Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pine River Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pine River, Minnesota 56474
Tuesady, September 9, 2003 14:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The aircraft was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a complete loss of engine power. The pilot reported that during descent he "felt the plane slow up quite quickly." He reported he verified the position of the engine controls, however he was unable to restore power. The pilot stated that he selected an emergency landing field. He noted: "After I cleared the tree line I put down my wheels and ten degrees of flaps. … I had to turn pretty sharply to avoid a large tree that was in the middle of the field. When I felt I had cleared the tree I straightened out the plane and pulled the nose up to flare. The plane did not seem to flare and hit the ground very hard. The landing gear collapsed upon impact and the plane slid on the ground." The pilot reported no malfunctions with the aircraft or engine prior to the loss of engine power. The post-accident examination of the aircraft recovered approximately 8 ounces of fuel from the fuel tanks. No fuel was present in the fuel line running from the firewall to the engine. The fuel tanks and lines appeared to be intact and no evidence of fuel leakage was observed. The pilot stated that he did not visually confirm the fuel level before flight. He reported referencing remaining fuel quantity from a fuel management computer installed in the aircraft. The operating manual for the fuel management computer stated: "[The fuel management computer] is a fuel flow measuring system and NOT a quantity-sensing device. A visual inspection and positive determination of the usable fuel in the fuel tanks is a necessity. Therefore, it is imperative that the determined available usable fuel be manually entered into the system."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An inadequate pre-flight inspection by the pilot due to his failure to visually confirm fuel quantity prior to flight, and the resulting fuel exhaustion. Contributing factors were the pilot's improper use of the fuel management computer installed in the aircraft, and the tree located in the middle of the emergency landing field.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/9/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1440 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pine River |
| Event State | MINNESOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 56474 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 464329N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0940900W |
| Event Location Airport | Pine River Regional |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PWC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 10 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 1295 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1435 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PWC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1295 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 24 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.95 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14874 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 9 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1643 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:07AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA -- Minneapolis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5360U |
| NTSB Number | CHI03LA305 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | T210N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 210-64878 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 29 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 55 |
| Airframe Hours | 2265 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Radair Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 227 Mariners Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bear |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19701 |
| 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 | SUW |
| Departure City | Superior |
| Departure State | WI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PWC |
| Destination City | Pine River |
| Destination State | MN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 6 2004 8:46AM |
| 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 | -- |