Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 78011
Thursday, April 5, 2001 15:16 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Based upon the pilot's preflight planning, the homebuilt experimental airplane should have reached the destination airport with 1/2 hour of fuel reserve. The pilot was instructed to fly the airplane on a 3-mile base for runway 22R, and subsequently cleared to land the airplane on runway 22R. Before the base to final turn, the pilot reported to the tower controller that the engine "stopped." Subsequently, the pilot performed the emergency procedures and informed the tower controller that the flight would not make the runway. During the forced landing in a field, the airplane came to rest against a fence and fence post. The FAA inspector, who responded to the site, reported "fuel exhaustion." The pilot stated "this accident could have been prevented if I had used the wind information available at the time of departure and allowed for poor navigation, [and] more fuel burned than anticipated."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight planning resulting in fuel exhaustion during approach. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/5/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1516 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Baton Rouge |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78011 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 303159N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0910859W |
| Event Location Airport | Baton Rouge Metropolitan |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BTR |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 360 |
| Airport Elevation | 70 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1430 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BTR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 70 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10672 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 1 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1737 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 9 2001 3:21PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N914DA |
| NTSB Number | FTW01LA093 |
| 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 | EMPSON |
| Aircraft Model | F4UCorsair |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 208 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1247 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 2 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 43 |
| Airframe Hours | 43 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lee E. Empson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 15446 Dogwood Lane |
| Aircraft Owner City | Conroe |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77303 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CXO |
| Departure City | Conroe |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1310 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | BTR |
| Destination City | Baton Rouge |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - base leg/base to final |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 21 2001 1:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MORJU |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22R |
| Runway Length | 6900 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |