Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Seattle, Washington 98126
Thursday, March 28, 2002 13:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The crew had originally planned to practice landings at an airport about 20 minutes away, then stop, refuel the airplane, and subsequently return to the original departure airport. Prior to the flight, the crew discussed fuel endurance, which was calculated to be 2 hours based on the captain's knowledge of the airplane's fuel consumption, and the quantity of fuel indicated on the gauges. The fuel tanks were not dipped. The flight was made at 1,500 feet msl. Upon reaching the practice airport, the crew conducted one full stop landing, then taxied back for takeoff. During takeoff, an engine had a momentary overspeed, and the crew decided to return to the original departure airport without refueling. Approaching the original departure airport, the airplane had to delay landing for about 7 minutes for a manual gear extension. Upon completion, it turned back toward the airport, and was about 6 miles from the runway when fuel pressure for one of the engines dropped. The boost pumps were turned on; however, the engine lost power. A low fuel pressure light then illuminated for another engine. The captain called for the flight engineer to switch fuel feed to another tank, but the flight engineer responded, "we're out of fuel." The remaining engines subsequently lost power, and the captain ditched the airplane into a bay. The time from first takeoff until ditching was 1 hour, 19 minutes. The airplane had flown 39 hours since restoration, and exact fuel capacities, fuel flow calculations and unusable fuel amounts had not been established. A dipping chart had been prepared, with one person in the cockpit and one person with a yardstick putting fuel in a main tank in 25-gallon increments. However, the data had not been verified, and dipping was not considered to be part of the pre-flight inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Loss of all engine power due to fuel exhaustion that resulted from the flight crew's failure to accurately determine onboard fuel during the pre-flight inspection. A factor contributing to the accident was a lack of adequate crew communication regarding the fuel status.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1310 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Seattle |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98126 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 119 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BFI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.26 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12933 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 28 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1320 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 21 2003 7:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N19903 |
| NTSB Number | SEA02FA060 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | S-307 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2003 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 45000 |
| 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 | 39 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 20577 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | National Air & Space Museum |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7th and Independence St. SW |
| Aircraft Owner City | Washington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20560 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | The Boeing Company |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Seattle |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98124 |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PAE |
| Departure City | Everett |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1247 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BFI |
| Destination City | Seattle |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2003 12:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |