Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Ellington Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ellington, Connecticut 06029
Monday, June 24, 2002 16:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After the parachutists jumped, the airplane was descending through 9,000 feet msl, and the engine lost partial power. The pilot verified that carburetor heat was on, the cowl flaps were closed, the fuel selector was positioned to "Both," and the mixture was rich. She continued descending and entered a left traffic pattern for the runway. The pilot initially judged her pattern distance based on the available engine power. However, while turning from base to final leg, the engine lost all power. The pilot did not think that she would be able to glide to the runway, and planned a forced landing to the parachute drop zone. She was subsequently too high for that field, and performed a forced landing in a cornfield. After the accident, an FAA inspector performed a successful engine run, utilizing both fuel tanks. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel tanks had not been compromised. The left tank contained approximately 2 gallons of fuel and the right tank contained approximately 6.75 gallons. Review of fueling records revealed that the airplane was fueled to capacity 3.9 hours prior to the accident, according to the tachometer. During that period, the pilot had added 4.5 gallons to the right fuel tank. Review of the airplane owner's manual revealed that the engine consumed approximately 14 gallons of fuel per hour, and 10 gallons of fuel were unusable during normal flight operations.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudged distance/altitude during an emergency landing, which resulted in an undershoot and subsequent forced landing to a cornfield. A factor was the pilot's inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in fuel starvation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/24/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1615 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ellington |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06029 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 415528N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0722725W |
| Event Location Airport | Ellington Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 7B9 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 253 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1551 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BDL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 173 |
| 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 | 15000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| 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) | 12866 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NEOC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 24 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1950 |
| 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 | Windsor Locks, CT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2516G |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA122 |
| 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 | 182B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 51816 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 19 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38 |
| Airframe Hours | 9353 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Connecticut Parchutists Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Route 83 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ellington |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06029 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 7B9 |
| Departure City | Ellington |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1545 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 7B9 |
| Destination City | Ellington |
| Destination State | CT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 2 2002 4:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 01 |
| Runway Length | 1800 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |