Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Akron/Canton Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Uniontown, Ohio 44685
Tuesady, May 22, 2001 8:06 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot departed on the last segment of his 5-leg trip with an estimated 44-48 gallons of fuel in the inboard tanks, and no fuel in the outboard tanks. While on final approach, both engines stopped producing power and the pilot performed a forced landing 4 1/2 miles short of the runway. Examination of the fuel tanks revealed that the left and right inboard tanks were empty. With the battery off, the left fuel gauge read approximately 1/16 full and the right fuel gauge read approximately 1/2 full. The two left and one right inboard fuel probes were checked for variable resistance using a calibrated digital VOM. None of the probes that were tested were within the manufacturer's published resistance limits. The operator stated that the normal procedure for checking fuel quantity was by referencing the fuel gauges, and that the airplane would burn an average of 40 gallons per hour. Fuel burn for the five trip legs was about 41 gallons per hour. The pilot reported a total of 1,706 flight hours, of which 365.6 hours were in make and model. The pilot reported no additional mechanical deficiencies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's failure to perform fuel calculations. A factor was the inboard fuel tank probes not being within the manufacturer's resistance limits, which resulted in inaccurate fuel gauges.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/22/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 806 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | UNIONTOWN |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 44685 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | AKRON/CANTON REGIONAL AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CAK |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 4.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 45 |
| Airport Elevation | 1200 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 800 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 230 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CAK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1200 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2046 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13779 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 22 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | CLEVELAND FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N35WT |
| NTSB Number | IAD01LA059 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31-310 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-817 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6730 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 18 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 12545.7 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CASTLE AVIATION INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | AKRON |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | CSJA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CMH |
| Departure City | COLUMBUS |
| Departure State | OH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 727 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CAK |
| Destination City | AKRON |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 6 2002 11:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 23 |
| Runway Length | 7597 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |