Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Oroville, California 95965
Friday, September 4, 1998 19:20 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

After 4 hours of flight, the engine lost power and the pilot made a forced landing onto a road. The airplane struck a sign and veered off the road into rocks, which collapsed the nose gear. The pilot flew for 1-hour periods on the right tank, the left tank, and then the right tank again. He reselected the left tank and noted the right tank was on the empty mark. About 25 minutes later the engine lost power. The pilot maintained 1,000 feet for the first part of the flight, climbed to 6,500 feet, then descended to 4,500 feet for the remainder of the flight. He cruised at 2,500 rpm throughout the flight and leaned to 100 degrees rich of peak EGT (exhaust gas temperature). The performance section of the POH stated that the cruise power setting and cruise fuel flow should be selected using the Lycoming Operator's Manual (LOM). This manual was not in the airplane and he did not reference one during his preflight planning. He had never used this manual in his training or checkout in this type of airplane. The operating conditions section of the LOM stated that performance cruise (75 percent rated) was 2,450 rpm, 135 hp (horsepower), with a fuel consumption of 10.5 gph (gallons per hour). Above 75 percent, it said to maintain full rich position of the mixture control. Using the sea level and altitude performance chart at standard temperatures, Lycoming engineers determined the power generated under the conditions the pilot stated he encountered. For the portion of the flight at 1,000 feet, the airplane was generating 165 hp, and consuming fuel at the rate of 13.49 gph. At 6,500 feet, 134 hp was generated using 10.95 gph. At 4,500 feet, 144 hp was generated using 11.77 gph. The retriever drained 18 ounces of blue fuel from the wing fuel tanks and 3 ounces from the sediment bowl. An inspection of the airplane revealed the vents were clear, fuel flowed through the fuel system without leaks, and the spark plugs were clean.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the pilot's inaccurate preflight and in-flight fuel consumption calculations, which resulted in fuel exhaustion. The pilot's failure to obtain the proper engine power setting charts to use in fuel consumption calculations was also causal.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/4/1998
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1920
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City OROVILLE
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95965
Event Date Year 1998
Event Date Month 9
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 Full
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1855 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 140
Weather Observation Facility ID BAB
Elevation of weather observation facility 113
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 23
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Dusk
Lowest Ceiling Height 12000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 3500
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
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) 32
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 13
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 170
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 13
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
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) 1977
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Sep 4 1998 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1946
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record May 19 2001 4:45AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N2161G
NTSB Number LAX98LA284
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 28-7990193
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 Feb 8 1998 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 85
Airframe Hours 4185
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name CALVIN SPOOLSTRA
Aircraft Owner Street Address 10043 BEACH ST
Aircraft Owner City BELLFLOWER
Aircraft Owner State CA
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 90706
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name AVIATION WEST
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 4225 DOUGLAS DRIVE
Operator City LONG BEACH
Operator State CA
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 90808
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 Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code SZP
Departure City SANTA PAULA
Departure State CA
Departure Country
Departure Time 1552
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code CIC
Destination City CHICO
Destination State CA
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Cruise
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record May 19 2001 4:08AM
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 --