Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hartsfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlanta, Georgia 30320
Monday, September 24, 1984 16:09 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE NORMAL FUEL LOAD FOR THE FLT WAS 1500 LBS, BUT WITH A FORECAST TAIL WIND & AN ESTIMATED FLT TIME FOR ONLY 1+10, THE CREW ACCEPTED THE LOWER INDCTD (950 LB) FUEL LOAD. THE FLT WAS UNEVENTFUL UNTIL AN INDCTN OF 250 LBS PER SIDE, THEN THE FUEL 'SEEMED TO DISSIPATE FASTER.' WITH AN INDCTN OF 150 LBS ON DWNWND, THE COPLT RCMDD DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. THE CAPT'S RESPONSE WAS TO ASK ATC FOR THE ANTICIPATED LENGTH OF THE DWNWND LEG. HE WAS TOLD 20 MI. PRIORITY HNDLG WAS REQUESTED, BUT WAS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR A DECLARED EMERGENCY. THE APCH WAS CONTD WITH NORMAL HNDLG FOR APRX 10 MIN. AT 1608:39, THE CREW DECLARED AN EMERGENCY, THEN RPRTD THE ACFT WAS OUT OF FUEL. IT CRASH LANDED ON ROUGH TERRAIN, SHORT OF RWY 8. AN EXAM REVEALED FUEL SENSORS HAD BEEN IMPROPERLY INSTALLED (INTERCHANGED BTN THE INBRD & OUTBRD TANKS). THUS THE GAGES INDCTD ABOUT 180 LBS MORE THAN THE APRX 763 LBS THAT WAS ACTUALLY ABOARD AT TKOF. A SPCL 500 HR INSPN OF THE ENTIRE FUEL SYS WAS MADE ON 7/8/84 USING THE 'WET' METHOD, BUT ONLY THE CAPACITANCE METHOD CHECKS EACH INDIVIDUAL SENSOR
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/24/1984 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1609 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ATLANTA |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 30320 |
| Event Date Year | 1984 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | HARTSFIELD AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ATL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 1026 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1614 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1024 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| 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) | 2500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 5 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 6 |
| Injury Total All | 11 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2177 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | 0 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 26097 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 9:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9193Y |
| NTSB Number | ATL84MA296 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| 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-31T3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31T3 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31T-8275010 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9050 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 18 1984 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 1857 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HRS TEXTILES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | BOX 3849 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FLORENCE |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29501 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PEE DEE AIR EXPRESS, INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FLO |
| Departure City | FLORENCE |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1446 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 8 |
| Runway Length | 10000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |