Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Montgomery Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92123
Sunday, March 3, 2002 15:34 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane experienced a loss of engine power and impacted terrain about 450 yards from the approach end of the runway. The pilot spent about 1.5 hours reviewing the flight manual for the airplane due to his unfamiliarity with this model. He departed with the left fuel tank selected. He spent about 2 hours flying, and then returned to the departure airport. On his initial descent he switched the fuel selector valve to the right tank. About 1 nm from touchdown, the engine began to lose power. He rechecked that the mixture was rich, and the carburetor heat was on. He contacted the air traffic control tower and declared an emergency. He executed a forced landing short of the runway due to insufficient altitude. The pilot inspected the fuel tanks and observed no fuel in the tanks; however, the airplane was in a nose down, left wing low attitude. An FAA inspector examined the fuel system. He observed fuel in the left tank, but none in the right tank. A post accident engine ground run-up was conducted utilizing the left tank with no discrepancies noted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
fuel starvation due to the pilot's mismanagement of the fuel system.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/3/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1534 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92123 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324800N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170837W |
| Event Location Airport | Montgomery Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MYF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 427 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 427 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.22 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 725 |
| 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) | 15713 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 3 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 30 2004 12:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1775T |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA102 |
| 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-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7125048 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 25 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5931.8 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gregory T Finley |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Diego |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92110 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Plus One Flyers |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | San Diego |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92110 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | MYF |
| Departure City | San Diego |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1320 |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2004 6:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28R |
| Runway Length | 4577 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |