Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Skatter Creek Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rochester, Washington 98579
Saturday, July 3, 2004 17:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight was for familiarization purposes. The pilot, who had five hours in the airplane, at first said he didn't remember checking the fuel level, but subsequently said he added 3 gallons to the 4 gallon tank prior to departing on the first leg of a two-leg flight. While en route on the second leg of the flight at 3,500 feet agl, the pilot did one engine shutdown and an air start before the engine quit. An attempt to restart the engine failed, necessitating a forced landing to a 1,800 foot long, 100 foot wide grass airstrip. After misjudging his pattern and being 500 feet too high, the pilot used spoilers and a slipping maneuver to lose altitude. At mid field and 40 above ground level, the pilot elected to turn left 45 degrees and land in a hay field, rather than risk impacting a house located at the end of the airstrip. The airplane subsequently impacted a tree with its right wing, hit flat and sideways before coming to rest upright after having continued to rotate clockwise approximately 120 degrees.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate in-flight decision by failing to refuel, resulting in fuel exhaustion and the loss of power during descent. Factors contributing to the accident included the pilot's lack of experience in the aircraft and the tree.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/3/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rochester |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98579 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 464929N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1230209W |
| Event Location Airport | Skatter Creek Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 20WA |
| 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 | 174 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1754 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OLM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 206 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3894 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 900 |
| 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) | 16801 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1845 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2004 11:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N87TW |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA121 |
| 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 | Exp Acft Assn WI Chapter 60 |
| Aircraft Model | MONI |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 5 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 6.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 18.3 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Leland H. Thornburg |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Tenino |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98589 |
| 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 | OLM |
| Departure City | Olympia |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CLS |
| Destination City | Chehalis |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2004 3:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 1800 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |