Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Flagstaff Pulliam Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
Saturday, June 16, 2001 16:25 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The homebuilt experimental airplane was approaching its destination airport after a cross country flight of 3 hours 12 minutes duration when it lost engine power. The airline transport pilot reported to air traffic control that he was not going to make it to the airport and was going to crash. The airplane impacted trees and terrain about 2 miles from the airport. The FAA inspector, who responded to the accident site, reported the right fuel tank was empty, the left fuel tank was compromised by impact damage, and the fuel selector was on the left tank. A post accident examination of the engine revealed no preaccident anomalies. Examination of the right wing fuel tank revealed that a required fuel vent was not drilled into the spar. According to the builder of another experimental airplane of this design, the lack of the vent would have made filling the tank problematic as the affected section of the tank had no way to vent, and therefore, it would have been difficult to completely fill the tank, and there would have been no way to confirm how much fuel was in the tank. The owner of the airplane reported he had previously experienced problems getting the fuel tanks to accept the total designed fuel capacity of 80 gallons; however, he and the pilot believed this problem had been fixed. Additionally, a few days prior to the accident, the pilot had taken the airplane to a maintenance facility to correct several discrepancies, one of which was "problems with the fuel quantity indicating system." A mechanic reported that the pilot told him he had been flying for several weeks with neither of the fuel quantity indicators working properly. After examining the airplane, the mechanic told the pilot that the airplane's right fuel quantity sender was not calibrated properly and the left fuel quantity sender was defective and would have to be replaced. The pilot elected to defer the repairs to the fuel quantity indicating system until he arrived at his final destination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the builder's failure to install a fuel compartment vent in the right wing, affecting the total available fuel capacity, and resulting in the loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. A contributing factor was the pilot's intentional flight with a known inoperative fuel gauging system.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/16/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1625 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Flagstaff |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86001 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350952N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1113821W |
| Event Location Airport | Flagstaff Pulliam |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FLG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 45 |
| Airport Elevation | 7011 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by pilot |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1656 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FLG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7011 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.31 |
| 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) | 15185 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 16 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SDL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N424E |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA212 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Schultz |
| Aircraft Model | Lancair IV-P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | LIV-011 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 12 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 106.4 |
| Airframe Hours | 106.4 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Northwing Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4003 Clarinda Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Tarzana |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91358 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ADH |
| Departure City | Ada |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1412 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FLG |
| Destination City | Flagstaff |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 26 2004 4:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |