Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
West Lafayette, Indiana 47906
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained substantial damage when it impacted a field and trees during a forced landing after a loss of engine power. Witnesses reported the pilot departed on an unscheduled flight about 2115. The airplane was observed flying at least one full stop landing before doing a low approach, and then departing the pattern. A hand-held aviation Garmin GPS III was found in the "ON" position at the site of the accident. The recorded track data indicated the airplane flew north and flew over or near five airports. The track data indicated about 2 hours and 18 minutes elapsed during the portion of the flight recorded by the GPS. A witness near the accident site reported, "I observed what appeared to be an airplane flying in a north west direction at a low altitude. It appeared as the airplane was losing altitude. I lost sight of the airplane behind some trees at a distance. At that time I did not hear engine noise from an airplane. After several seconds passed I heard a loud crashing noise." Less than one gallon of fuel was found in the left and right fuel tanks. No fuel was found in the engine fuel lines, fuel pump, or carburetor bowl. The inspection of the airplane revealed no preexisting anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Emergency responders reported that a 750 ml bottle of vodka was found in the cockpit with about 1/4 of it gone. The toxicology report indicated that pilot's ethanol blood level was almost 5 times the legal limit for presumed intoxication in most states.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's alcohol impaired decision making. Additional factors were the trees and night.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/11/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 15 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | West Lafayette |
| Event State | INDIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 47906 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 402804N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0865648W |
| 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 | 2354 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 355 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 606 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.86 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1649 |
| 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) | 13279 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2003 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Indianapolis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8955J |
| NTSB Number | CHI01FA204 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-2976 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2450 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 26 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | 3320 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Indy Aero, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3867 N. Aviation Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Greenfield |
| Aircraft Owner State | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 46140 |
| 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 | MQJ |
| Departure City | Mount Comfort |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2115 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Unknown |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2002 4:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| 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 | -- |