Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Germantown, Tennessee 38138
Wednesday, April 25, 2001 16:25 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, as a result of his preflight walk-around inspection, he felt confident that he had at least 12 gallons of fuel on board. Since his planned flight was for about 20 minutes, and knowing fuel burn is about 8.5 gallons an hour, he felt he had adequate fuel aboard. Actually, the fuel aboard was about 4 gallons, and 10 minutes into the flight, the engine quit while he was overhead a residential area of Germantown at 1500 feet msl. He reasoned that his only alternative was a forced landing to a residential street, and during the landing, the aircraft sequentially collided with an automobile rear window with the landing gear, a utility pole and mailbox with the wings, and a street sign with the horizontal stabilizer. Postcrash examination by FAA inspectors and the pilot revealed no evidence of fuel aboard.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to conduct proper preflight planning and preparation, resulting in fuel exhaustion during cruise flight, and the subsequent emergency descent and forced landing to a residential street colliding with a vehicle, utility pole, mail box, and street sign.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/25/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1625 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Germantown |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38138 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1719 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MEM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 332 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.2 |
| 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) | 10827 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr-SE |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 25 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2001 10:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Memphis |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N14DE |
| NTSB Number | MIA01LA128 |
| 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 | Steen Aero Lab |
| Aircraft Model | Skybolt I |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 01 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| 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 | Sep 16 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 380 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Donald K. Eye |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7831 Cross Village Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Germantown |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38138 |
| 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 | 54M |
| Departure City | Collierville |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1615 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 3 2001 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PREJ |
| 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 | -- |