Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Laredo, Texas 78040
Sunday, June 27, 1999 16:28 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During descent for landing, the twin-engine airplane lost power in both engines due to fuel exhaustion. The pilot reported that during his preflight inspection, the fuel gauges were reading a little over 30 gallons on the left and about 35 gallons on the right. When the flight neared its destination, the pilot started a descent for landing. As he 'pitched' the nose down, the left gauge went to zero. A few minutes later, the right gauge went from about 20 gallons to zero, and a few seconds later, the right engine lost power, followed by the left engine. A forced landing was initiated to a nearby road; however, after observing traffic on the road, the pilot elected to land in the grass area next to the road. After touchdown, the right wing impacted a metal fence post, and the aircraft came to rest nose down in a ditch. Examination of the fuel system by an FAA inspector revealed no usable fuel in the left fuel tank, and the right fuel tank was destroyed. There was no evidence of fuel spillage at the accident site. The pilot reported that he could have prevented this accident by adding an 'extra 10 gallons' of fuel.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to refuel, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. A factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/27/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1628 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | LAREDO |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78040 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 35 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 1195 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 28 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8329M |
| NTSB Number | FTW99LA174 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-34-220T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-34-220T |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-8133009 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4750 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 26 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 54 |
| Airframe Hours | 4310 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | C&S ADTD AVIATION, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 630 BROAD STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN ANTONIO |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78215 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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 | SAT |
| Departure City | SAN ANTONIO |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1535 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LRD |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 12:27PM |
| 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 | -- |