Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fairfield County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tuesady, August 27, 2002 12:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the return leg of the student pilot's cross-country flight, the engine lost all power, and the student pilot performed a forced landing to trees. Examination of the wreckage by an FAA inspector revealed that the left fuel tank was full, but the right fuel tank contained about 1 gallon of fuel. Prior to the student renting the airplane, it was completely fueled, then flown 1.1 hours. A flight instructor met with the student pilot prior to her flight, and told her to fly out on the right tank, and fly back on the left. However, the student pilot thought she had 12 gallons of fuel in the right tank, and flew the entire cross-country flight with the fuel selector positioned to the right tank. After the power loss, the student pilot did not switch fuel tanks. The right fuel tank had indicated mid-range, and she believed that sufficient fuel remained in the right tank. Review of a discrepancies form revealed that during the 2 months prior to the accident, the right fuel tank gauge was entered twice, but the operator took no corrective action.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation during cruise flight. A factor was the operator's failure to perform maintenance on a fuel gauge that was noted twice in a discrepancy log.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/27/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1210 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Athens |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 45701 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391730N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0820218W |
| Event Location Airport | Fairfield County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LHQ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 30 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 120 |
| Airport Elevation | 869 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PKB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 858 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 60 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.11 |
| 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) | 13421 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 27 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1405 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2003 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbus, Ohio |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4307E |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA176 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-38-112 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3878A0543 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1670 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 18 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 54 |
| Airframe Hours | 4379 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Rajeshri Perera |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Logan |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 43138 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Fairfield County Airport Authority |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Lancaster |
| Operator State | OH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 43130 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PKB |
| Departure City | Parkersburg |
| Departure State | WV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1152 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LHQ |
| Destination City | Lancaster |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - emergency |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2003 1:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |