Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dona Ana County At Santa Teres Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
Saturday, October 11, 2003 8:35 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the instructor, he was giving instruction to the private pilot who had recently purchased the airplane. They departed with approximately 15 gallons of fuel. After completing four touch-and-go landings, they departed the pattern to do some air work, which included steep turns and a stall. At 3,500 feet agl, approximately 3 to 4 miles north of the airport, the engine lost all power. The instructor stated that he was unable to reach the airport using "best glide." The instructor made a forced landing in a field approximately 1/2 mile east-northeast of the approach end of runway 28. When the airplane impacted the ground, both the left and right main landing gear assemblies collapsed, the upper wing assembly was displaced aft, and the lower left wing, left horizontal stabilizer, and elevator were buckled. An examination of the airplane revealed 4 inches of fuel in the airplane's main fuel tank and no fuel in the wing tank. No other anomalies were found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the instructor's improper in-flight planning/decision making and fuel mismanagement which resulted in fuel starvation/exhaustion, the loss of engine power and the subsequent forced landing. Contributing factors include the instructor's inadequate preflight planning/preparation and the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/11/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 835 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Santa Teresa |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 88008 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 315251N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1064217W |
| Event Location Airport | Dona Ana County at Santa Teres |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5T6 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 4112 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 851 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 105 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KELP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4271 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 120 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5548 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15111 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 11 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1310 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N331DM |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA007 |
| 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 | Aviat |
| Aircraft Model | Pitts S2B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5305 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1700 |
| 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 | Apr 10 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 582.8 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Law Office of Victor F. Poulos, PC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 725 S. Mesa Hills Drive Bldg #1 |
| Aircraft Owner City | El Paso |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 79904 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 5T6 |
| Departure City | Santa Teresa |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 808 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 5T6 |
| Destination City | Santa Teresa |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 13 2004 12:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |