Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Holbrook, New York 11741
Tuesady, December 2, 2003 8:30 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot performed a preflight inspection on the airplane during which he determined there was about 15 gallons of fuel in both the right and left fuel tank. He selected the right tank for takeoff, flew for 24 miles, and then switched to the left fuel tank for the 36-mile return flight. When he was about 20 miles from the airport, the pilot began a descent and selected the right fuel tank again. At this time he believed that the right fuel tank had 15 gallons of fuel remaining, and the left tank had 12 gallons of fuel. While descending, the pilot turned on the fuel boost pump, noticed a slight engine vibration, followed by a loss of engine power. The pilot then performed a forced landing to a road, during which the airplane impacted two homes. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed approximately 15 gallons of fuel in the right tank, and 2 gallons of fuel in the left tank; however, both fuel tanks were compromised. The engine was test run on the airframe, using the original fuel system. The engine started without hesitation and ran continuously through a variety of power settings, with no abnormalities noted. The pilot reported that the airplane was last fueled about 2 months prior to the accident, which filled the tanks to their 52-gallon capacity. Since then, he flew one 25 minute flight, and performed about 80 minutes of ground runs prior to the accident flight. According to the Lycoming O-360 Operator's Manual, the fuel burn at 75 percent power was approximately 10.5 gallons per hour, and at 65 percent power was approximately 9 gallons per hour.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation and subsequent loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/2/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Holbrook |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11741 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404759N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0734033W |
| 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 | 856 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 280 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ISP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 99 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.11 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17208 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern Region Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 2 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 942 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 27 2005 3:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Farmingdale FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N238CZ |
| NTSB Number | NYC04LA041 |
| 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 | Russell |
| Aircraft Model | Cozy MK III |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 505 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 5 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 150 |
| Airframe Hours | 490 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Richard Hughes |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Islip |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 11751 |
| 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 | ISP |
| Departure City | Islip |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 730 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | ISP |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| 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 | -- |