Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fallon, Nevada 89406
Tuesady, June 10, 2003 9:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with obstacles during an emergency landing on a highway following a loss of engine power during cruise flight. Prior to departure, the pilot had visually checked the airplane's fuel tanks, but did not use a dipstick or other means to quantify the fuel on board. He then set the fuel selector to the right tank deeming it the fullest one at an estimated ¾ capacity. Not wanting to wait for fuel, the pilot departed the airport and left the fuel selector on the right tank for the duration of the flight until the engine lost power. Post accident investigation of the aircraft by an A&P mechanic revealed the right tank to be "completely dry." The left still had ½ to 1 inch of fuel remaining. After refueling the aircraft, an engine run-up did not reveal any discrepancies with either the engine, the engine's fuel flow, or the engine driven and electrical fuel pumps. The pilot later stated that the accident could have been prevented by "not relying on the fuel gage" and by sticking the tanks "with a paint stick or something appropriate" instead of relying on a visual inspection to accurately determine fuel quantity in the tanks.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate preflight and his mismanagement of the fuel supply by his failure to switch fuel tanks.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/10/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fallon |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89406 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394100N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1184455W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 956 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 150 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KNFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3934 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5751 |
| 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) | 16366 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 10 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | RNO-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5058P |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA190 |
| 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 | 24-507 |
| 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 | Jan 2 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3288 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | T & T Trucking LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 Wildes Rd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fallon |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89406 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Russell Edwin Taylor |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Fallon |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 89406 |
| 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 | KLOL |
| Departure City | Lovelock |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 840 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KFLX |
| Destination City | Fallon |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 6 2004 6:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |