Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Burnet, Texas 78661
Friday, July 11, 2003 19:50 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he visually checked the fuel on the morning of the accident and noted that the left and right fuel tanks had about 55 gallons of fuel in each. He then flew about 1.5 hours and landed at an airport. When he departed from that airport to fly back to the origination point, he did not visually check the fuel prior to the flight. During the return flight he noticed that the fuel quantity gauge for the left fuel tank was "dropping at an excessive rate." As a precaution, he diverted to a nearby airport. At approximately 4,000 feet, both engines sputtered and subsequently lost power within a few seconds of each other. Realizing he could not make the airport, the pilot performed an off field landing into trees. At the time of the power loss, he remembered the right tank was indicating about 20 gallons, and the left tank was indicating about 10 gallons. No fire, defoliation of vegetation, or a significant amount of liquid fuel was noted at the accident site; however, a small amount of residual fuel, and an odor of fuel was noted. Due to the compromised fuel system that resulted from impact forces, the presence of fuel on board at the time of the accident could not be positively ascertained. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any pre-impact mechanical malfunction with the engines, fuel strainers, or fuel selector valves. The right fuel selector valve was found between the OFF and X-FEED positions. The left fuel selector valve was found half way between the OFF and LEFT position; however, impact damage could have altered the position of the valves. Near simultaneous power loss can occur as a result of fuel exhaustion of both wing tanks while the fuel selector valves are in the normal position (each tank feeding each engine), or fuel exhaustion of one of the two fuel tanks while the fuel selector valves are on cross feed to both engines from the empty tank.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to properly manage the airplane's fuel supply which led to the total loss of engine power, due to fuel starvation. A factor contributing to the accident was the presence of trees in the landing area used by the pilot to perform the emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/11/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1950 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Burnet |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 78661 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 304420N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0981418W |
| 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 | 1853 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BMQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| 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) | 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19890 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 11 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 28 2006 1:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Antonio, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2463M |
| NTSB Number | IAD03LA064 |
| 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-34-220T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-8333104 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 15 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TK2 Bentwood LTD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7609 Escala Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Austin |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78735 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ADS |
| Departure City | DALLAS |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | T04 |
| Destination City | GEORGETOWN |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 18 2004 2:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |