Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Peyton, Colorado 80831
Friday, July 26, 2002 15:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that the fuel tanks were topped off with a total of 60 gallons of fuel before the flight. He said that he flew for approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes and the "airplane ran out of fuel." He performed a forced landing to a road, but the road ended short of the required braking distance. The pilot said that he applied "heavy" left rudder to avoid hitting telephone poles, "J" boxes, and a fence. The right main landing gear folded under the fuselage, and subsequently, the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer were bent up. Postaccident examination, by the pilot, of the fuel tank area revealed some fuel residue stains inside the fuel door. The airplane was equipped with "thermos bottle" type fuel caps and the pilot believed that fuel was being siphoned out of the tanks. In the performance section of the Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH), the fuel consumption at 19.5 inches of manifold pressure, 2,450 revolutions per minute, and 6,500 to 7,500 feet cruising altitude, was approximately 13 gallons per hour.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of leaking fuel caps. Contributing to the accident was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/26/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Peyton |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80831 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 390201N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1042852W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1554 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 200 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6184 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| 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) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9260 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12756 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 31 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1228 |
| 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 | Denver, CO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6887F |
| NTSB Number | DEN02LA082 |
| 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-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-2023 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 7000 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Alvin L. Berg |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Overgaard |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85933 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FSD |
| Departure City | Sioux Falls |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1230 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 00V |
| Destination City | Meadowlake |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 10 2002 1:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |