Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Morgantown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Metz, West Virginia 26585
Friday, October 3, 2003 17:25 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was en route to his home base, with a homebuilt kit airplane when the engine lost power, after about 2.4 hours of flight. During the forced landing the airplane struck an electrical pole. Examination revealed the fuel tanks were empty, and there was no evidence of a fuel spill on the ground, although both fuel tanks were ruptured. There was no blue staining on the top of the wings, or under the fuselage, although heavy rains had fallen for two days between the accident, and its examination by the FAA. There were no loose fittings on the fuel line leading to the engine. The spark plugs were slate gray in appearance, and thumb compression was found in all cylinders. The pilot reported that the fuel gauges were inaccurate and fuel consumption on the 2 previous flights had averaged between 8.5 and 9.5 gallons per hour. At the last refueling, the pilot had requested that the fuel servicing person leave about 1 inch of space at the top of the fuel tank. The pilot reported that when he preflighted the airplane, he thought the fuel level was down about 1 inch from the top of the tank, The fuel tanks were reported to hold 16 gallons in each wing. A representative of the kit manufacturer reported that the fuel tank capacity could vary by a few gallons, along with the amount of unusable fuel due to variations in fuel tank assembly by builders. The experimental operating limitations issued by the FAA for the airplane required an operative fuel indicating system to indicate the amount of fuel in each tank.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper decision to operate without accurate fuel gauges, which resulted in a power loss due to fuel exhaustion, and an off airport landing
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/3/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1725 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Metz |
| Event State | WEST VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 26585 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 393638N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0802237W |
| Event Location Airport | Morgantown |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MGW |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 21 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 273 |
| Airport Elevation | 1248 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 93 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MGW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1248 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 21 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1405 |
| 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) | 15006 |
| NTSB Notification Source | EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 3 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1912 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Charleston, West Virginia |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N475F |
| NTSB Number | NYC04CA001 |
| 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 | Williams |
| Aircraft Model | RV-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | BWS4 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Sep 20 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 560 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jorge E. Gonzalez |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fairfax |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 22011 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | DNV |
| Departure City | Danville |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MGW |
| Destination City | Morgantown |
| Destination State | WV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 13 2003 1:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 18 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |