Tampa International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Tampa, Florida 33634
Thursday, August 19, 1999 3:17 EDT

The first leg of the flight was uneventful; fueling of the airplane was not performed after landing as indicated in the route procedure. No adverse weather existed while the flight was on the ground. The pilot flew in a multi-engine airplane for a 1.8 hours; 1.5 hours of which were as a flight instructor after the first leg. The second and third flight legs were uneventful; fueling was not performed after those landings. The pilot twice requested to land on runway 36R; he was advised to follow company traffic landing runway 18L. A witness heard the engine sputtering and after being cleared to land, the pilot declared an emergency. The airplane collided with power lines, a dust bin, and remained suspended on the dust bin. No more than 10 ounces of fuel were drained from the airplane; no fuel leakage was noted. No engine, flight control, or fuel indicating system preimpact failure or malfunction was noted. Impact damage to the right fuel gauge prevented needle movement during postaccident testing. The airplane had been operated for 4 hours 54 minutes since fueling by the accident pilot. Instructions required by Airworthiness Directive (AD) 94-12-08, was not incorporated into the aircraft records.

The failure of the pilot to follow procedures and directives established by the operator for his failure to fuel the airplane after landing following the first leg. Contributing to the accident was the total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Findings in the investigation were 1) the failure of company maintenance personnel to comply with all instructions of Airworthiness Directive (AD) 94-12-08, and 2) the pilot flew a total of 1.8 hours in a multi-engine airplane after the first leg landing; 1.5 hours of which were as a flight instructor.