Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Triple W Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Raleigh, North Carolina 27601
Friday, June 21, 2002 16:20 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, after completion of a cross-country flight of about 2 hours and 20 minutes, he began a descent and pulled the knob to start fuel transfer from the reserve (auxiliary) tank. He entered the airport pattern, flew one circuit of the pattern to check the wind sock. He turned onto the base leg, and a few seconds later turned onto final. After turning onto final the engine lost power. He immediately checked the fuel selector, added full throttle to the engine, checked the propeller control, mixture and booster pump to the high boost position. He felt he could not make it to the runway, and braced for a crash landing. The airplane struck trees and fell to the ground. An examination of the engine revealed no discrepancies. Fuel calculations revealed that fuel consumption for the length of this flight would be close to exhausting the fuel in the main tanks, and that the fuel in the main tanks was near empty when the pilot switched to the auxiliary tank. The auxiliary tank was gravity fed into the right main tank, and not to the selector valve. Upon entering a steep bank turn, from base leg to final, all the small amount of fuel went to the low side with no way to the accumulator tank from that position. In addition, the placards in the airplane were clear that an auxiliary tank is to be used in straight, level flight. The aircraft TCDS (type certificate data sheets) precludes the operation of the auxiliary tank except in "straight and level flight." It is not approved for use for take-off or landing. The pilot had a total of 484 hours in all aircraft, with a total of 44 hours in this make and model airplane. Of the 44 hours in this make and model, 25 flight hours were as pilot-in-command.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight planning, improper fuel consumption calculations, and selection of the auxiliary fuel tank for landing, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, and forced landing in trees. A factor in this accident was the pilot's lack of total experience in type of aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/21/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1620 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Raleigh |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27601 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353713N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0784200W |
| Event Location Airport | TRIPLE W |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5W5 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 340 |
| Airport Elevation | 240 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1651 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 290 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRDU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 435 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.3 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1607 |
| 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) | 12825 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SE Reg Com Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 21 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1715 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 1 2003 4:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Greensboro FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5235K |
| NTSB Number | MIA02LA116 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Navion |
| Aircraft Model | Nav4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4-2135-B |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2850 |
| 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 28 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 47 |
| Airframe Hours | 3781 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James E. Downard |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1885 Mount Zwingli Rd. SE |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bremen |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 43107 |
| 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 | 62OH |
| Departure City | Bremen |
| Departure State | OH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1346 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 5W5 |
| Destination City | Raleigh |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2002 3:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 3004 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |