Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mcas Miramar/Mitscher Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92145
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 13:40 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the amateur built, experimental airplane, contacted the military tower and said: "... tower this is Canadian papa delta lima with an emergency we've uh run out of fuel." The tower controller gave the pilot the altimeter setting and surface wind and clearance to land on the runway nearest the pilot's position. There was a subsequent conversation between the tower and the pilot a few seconds later regarding the arresting gear in place on the runway during which the pilot said: "we're just hoping we make the runway." The tower controller approved landing on the taxiway. The airplane subsequently impacted an embankment about 200 feet short of the runway threshold in an open, grassy area. An FAA inspector responded to the scene and reported finding only a small amount of fuel (less than 1 quart) in the aircraft. The fuel tanks were not breached. The builder of the airplane said it was equipped with a fuel totalizer system that used capacitance type fuel quantity sensors and had been carefully calibrated and was quite accurate. Prior to the accident flight, the builder said that he observed the pilot use a plain, uncalibrated stick of wood to measure the fuel quantity during his preflight inspection of the aircraft. No fuel was added. He thought it odd that the pilot used the same, moistened, end of the same stick to measure the quantity in the second tank. The pilot commented they wouldn't be out very long, maybe 1 hour.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper in-flight planning and decision making, which resulted in exhaustion of the airplane's fuel supply and loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/30/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1340 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92145 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | MCAS Miramar/Mitscher Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NKX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 240 |
| Airport Elevation | 478 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1300 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NKF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 478 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12424 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 30 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2002 10:24AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Diego, California |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | C-FPDL |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA072 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hillyer |
| Aircraft Model | XL-RG Velocity |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3RX-031 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Foreign 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 16 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 35 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Michael Hillyer |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lacombe, Alberta |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | T4L1T6 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MYF |
| Departure City | San Diego |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1254 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 3 2002 4:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 6L |
| Runway Length | 12000 |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |