Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Garden Prairie, Illinois 61038
Sunday, August 25, 2002 21:09 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The aircraft collided with transmission wires during a forced landing following a complete loss of engine power. The power loss occured 7 miles from the intended destination. En route, approximately 150 nm from the destination, the pilot reported that his "fuel site gauges indicated 1/2 tank in right wing and just under 1/2 tank in left" wing. Based on this, he calculated remaining fuel at about 11 gallons, which he determined was sufficient to complete remainder of the flight. The pilot notes in his statement, that he began a slow descent, in preparation to enter the traffic pattern. According to the pilot: "With 7 NM showing on the GPS, ... and while passing 2,000 [feet] MSL the engine stopped." He reported that he attempted a restart, "but soon felt the controls get mushy," and decided to focus his attention on a setting up for a forced landing. He reported that the aircraft was "topped off" with 22 gallons of fuel prior to departure. The previous flight lasted 3.6 hours, with a fuel burn of 6.1 gallons per hour (gph), as calculated by the pilot. The accident flight was 3.8 hours. Based on information from the kit manufacturer, the fuel tank configuration installed in the accident aircraft consisted of two 13 gallon wing tanks and a header tank. The wing tanks had an unusable fuel quantity of about 2-1/2 gallons per tank -- 5 gallons total -- when in a descent (nose down attitude). In this configuration, the "fuel tends to run forward, away from the tank outlet, and during those periods fuel will be provided by the engine from the supply in the header tank," according to a service letter issued by the kit manufacturer. The pilot reported the capacity of the header was 3/4 gallon. After a flight of 3.8 hours, at a fuel burn rate of 6.1 gph, approximately 2.8 gallons remained in the wing tanks. The endurance of the 3/4 gallon header tank was approximately 7 minutes, at 6.1 gph. At a ground speed of 120 knots, this equates to about 14 miles. The pilot reported that his descent began 20 miles from the airport, and the engine quit 7 miles from the airport.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's miscalculation of fuel consumption and his operation of the fuel system beyond its limitation, which resulted in fuel exhaustion. Contributing factors were transmission wires and dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/25/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2109 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Garden Prairie |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 61038 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 421500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0884400W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2054 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 260 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RFD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 742 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| 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) | 30.02 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13561 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 25 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2319 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2003 9:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA -- DuPage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N743JT |
| NTSB Number | CHI02LA260 |
| 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 | Anderson |
| Aircraft Model | Kitfox Series 5 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | S9501-0091 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 20 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38 |
| Airframe Hours | 428 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Thomas Anderson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 743 N. Belmont Avenue |
| Aircraft Owner City | Arlington Heights |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60004 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | PLN |
| Departure City | Pellston |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | C77 |
| Destination City | Poplar Grove |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2003 6:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |