Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Jaffrey, New Hampshire 03452
Saturday, October 3, 1998 18:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot conducted a preflight of the Navion A airplane confirming 20 gallons of fuel each in the left and right main tanks, but did not check the 20 gallon auxiliary tank. He then departed Mansfield, Massachusetts, flew a minimum of 69 statute miles and landed at Jaffrey, New Hampshire, subsequently departing without taking on fuel and flying for approximately two additional hours. He landed at Jaffrey again, and without shutting the airplane down, departed back to Mansfield. Shortly after departing Jaffrey and leveling off at 3,000 feet, the airplane's engine lost power. Unable to return to his departure field, and deeming his intended landing site as unsuitable, he executed a forced landing into tree tops. A post-crash examination of the airplane by an FAA inspector revealed no fuel in the airplane's fuel tanks, and no evidence of fuel leakage. The pilot stated that 'Due to the power setting I chose to run the airplane at, the length of the flight, and my negligence to visually check and only operate the airplane based on the fuel gauge readings, I believe that it was my mistake in exhausting the fuel.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate aircraft preflight and subsequent failure to refuel the aircraft resulting in fuel exhaustion. A factor was the lack of suitable terrain to execute a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/3/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1815 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | JAFFREY |
| Event State | NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 03452 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | 1753 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 88 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MHT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 234 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 18000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1796 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 3 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4285K |
| NTSB Number | IAD99LA002 |
| 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 | Navion |
| Aircraft Model | A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NAV-4-1285 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2850 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 15 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 60 |
| Airframe Hours | 3547 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FLAGG, F. & CASEY, J. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 55 GRACE ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | BRAINTREE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02184 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | KROLL, TODD, J. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 369 CROWELL ROAD |
| Operator City | HOPKINTON |
| Operator State | NH |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 03229 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | AFN |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | NH |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1805 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 1B9 |
| Destination City | MANCHESTER |
| Destination State | MA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| 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 | -- |