Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grand Prairie, Texas 75052
Saturday, August 15, 1998 4:53 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a dark night forced landing to Interstate 20's westbound lanes, the pilot was forced to land on the outside lanes due to a vehicle in the passing lane. During the landing, the right wing of the airplane collided with the guardrail. The pilot had flown the airplane from Arlington, Texas, to Shreveport, Louisiana, the day prior to the accident. The pilot did not refuel the aircraft at Shreveport. On the early morning return flight to Arlington, the pilot got off course and could not reorient himself. Fort Worth FSS in coordination with DFW Approach, provided the pilot with 'radar vectors to Arlington.' While at 2,000 feet msl, over Joe Pool Lake, the engine lost power and the pilot was unable to restart it. The pilot reported to a law enforcement officer 'that he became low on fuel and attempted to make an emergency landing.' Examination of the fuel system by an FAA inspector revealed that it had not been compromised, and there was no usable fuel in either fuel tank. The Hobbs meter showed 4.1 hours since the pilot rented the aircraft.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's failure to refuel which resulted in the loss of engine power. Factors were the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing, and the dark night light conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/15/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 453 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | GRAND PRAIRIE |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75052 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 453 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 245 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | F54 |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 631 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1548 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 15 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 846 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8770C |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA359 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7690162 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 11 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3510 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JERRY DUNCAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5719 ENSIGN DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT WORTH |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76119 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | TOMCAT AVIATION, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5250 S. COLLINS, HANGAR 142 |
| Operator City | ARLINGTON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 76018 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SHV |
| Departure City | SHREVEPORT |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 255 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | F54 |
| Destination City | ARLINGTON |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |