Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mason County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grafton, West Virginia 26354
Monday, January 22, 2001 16:30 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Prior to the day of the accident, the pilot had not flown the make and model accident airplane. He "topped off" the 24-gallon fuel tank with 21.5 gallons of fuel. The pilot then performed two takeoffs and landings to familiarize himself with the airplane. The familiarization flight lasted about 20 minutes, and then the pilot let the engine idle on the ground for approximately 20 minutes, before he departed about 1400 on a cross country flight. "About" 1630, a witness observed a blue and white airplane circling a lake about 200-300 feet above the ground. The witness heard the engine noise cease, return, and cease again. The airplane then disappeared from sight, and the wreckage was located 5 days later. It was about 1.5 miles from the lake, and 100 miles east of the destination airport. During examination of the wreckage, an FAA inspector did not find any fuel in the tanks or carburetor. He did find about 1/4 ounce of fuel in the fuel bowl. The inspector also found a piece of paper in the wreckage that revealed the pilot planned the flight to be 2 hours and 30 minutes, at 150 knots. However, the previous owner and a witness stated the airplane cruised about 110-120 knots. According to the engine manufacturer, the engine consumed about 7.2 gallons of fuel per hour at 75% cruise performance. Review of the data revealed that at performance cruise, for 3 hours and 15 minutes, the engine would consume approximately 23.4 gallons of fuel. Although the autopsy report indicated that the pilot died from the rupture of a pre-existing abdominal aortic aneurysm, evidence observed by rescue personnel suggested that the pilot initially survived the impact and attempted to activate the ELT and egress the airplane. Inspection of the ELT and maintenance records revealed that the batteries had been removed 6 days prior to the accident flight, and the entry "ELT removed for repairs this date" was made in the airframe logbook.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper preflight planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion. A factor was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/22/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1630 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Grafton |
| Event State | WEST VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 26354 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 392026N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0800052W |
| Event Location Airport | Mason County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3I2 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 100 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 643 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 240 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CKB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1217 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12368 |
| NTSB Notification Source | EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 27 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1735 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 24 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Charleston, WV |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N911N |
| NTSB Number | NYC01LA070 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Whittman Tailwind |
| Aircraft Model | DN-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 92 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1465 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 16 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3.32 |
| Airframe Hours | 789.52 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Eastwind Aviaton |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Hangar 31, Allaire Executive Airport |
| Aircraft Owner City | Farmingdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07727 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BLM |
| Departure City | Belmar |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3I2 |
| Destination City | Point Pleasant |
| Destination State | WV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - emergency |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 27 2002 11:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |