Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Arcata Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Arcata, California 95521
Saturday, May 20, 1989 1:48 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
WHILE ESTABLISHED ON AN INSTRUMENT APPROACH, THE RIGHT ENGINE LOST POWER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE LEFT ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO RESTART EITHER ENGINE AND A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE IN AN OPEN FIELD. DURING THE LANDING ROLL, THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH THE TERRAIN. INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE AUX TANKS WERE EMPTY. THE MAIN FUEL TANKS CONTAINED AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY AND WERE RUPTURED IN THE CRASH SEQUENCE. THE AIRPLANE HAD BEEN OPERATING OFF OF THE AUX TANKS PRIOR TO THE LOSS OF POWER. THERE WERE NO MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS REPORTED WITH THE AIRPLANE OR ENGINES.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE PILOTS INACCURATE FUEL CONSUMPTION CALCULATIONS AND IMPROPER FUEL TANK SELECTOR POSITION. THESE RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION TO BOTH ENGINES WHEN THE AUX TANKS RAN DRY AND THE MAINS HAD FUEL REMAINING IN THEM. A FACTOR IN THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE ROUGH TERRAIN ENCOUNTERED WHEN THE PILOT WAS FORCED TO LAND SHORT OF THE RUNWAY.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 148 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | ARCATA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95521 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ARCATA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ACV |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 140 |
| Airport Elevation | 218 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 110 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 320 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ACV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 218 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| 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) | 345 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 38724 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N35479 |
| NTSB Number | LAX89LA199 |
| 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-31-350 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-8052024 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7000 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 10 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FORTUNA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4102 JACOBS AVE. |
| Aircraft Owner City | EUREKA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95501 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | NORTHERN AVIATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BFI |
| Departure City | SEATTLE |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2310 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | EKA |
| Destination City | EUREKA |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 5998 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |