Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mt. Vernon, Washington 98233
Tuesady, June 25, 2002 17:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Because he knew his aircraft was very low on fuel, the pilot considered refueling before departing Oak Harbor Airport. However, since there was no fuel available at the airport itself, he dipped the aircraft's fuel tanks with a fuel quantity measuring device, and estimated the remaining fuel to be around four to five gallons. Based on that indicated quantity, he elected to depart for Skagit Regional Airport. As the aircraft approached the airport on an extended base leg at approximately 1,400 feet above the terrain, the engine suddenly lost power. The pilot therefore activated the electric fuel pump, and the engine restarted and produced power for about another 30 seconds before losing power again. Because there were trees between the aircraft and the runway, the pilot decided to attempt a forced landing on a road in a nearby berry field. The touchdown was uneventful, however, the aircraft's wing collided with a portable outhouse while on the landing roll. A post-accident inspection of the aircraft determined that except for a very small amount of residual fuel, the aircraft's fuel tanks had been run dry.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to accurately determine the amount of fuel onboard. Factors included trees, and a portable restroom.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/25/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1710 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mt. Vernon |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98233 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 482746N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222750W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12895 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operation Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 25 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 15 2003 4:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N29441 |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA113 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17700890 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | Aug 5 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 79 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James M. Hayward |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anacortes |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98221 |
| 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 | 76S |
| Departure City | Oak Harbor |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 75S |
| Destination City | Skagit Regional |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 2 2002 2:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |