Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Harriet Alexander Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Salida, Colorado 81201
Saturday, October 9, 2004 18:10 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot-rated passenger aboard the accident flight -- the pilot's flight instructor -- had flown the airplane to their vacation spot the previous week. The pilot followed in an automobile carrying a week's worth of supplies. The pilot estimated the instructor had 45 gallons of fuel on board when he departed. The first leg of ther trip took 1 hour, 20 minutes. There, the instructor purchased 40 gallons of fuel. The last leg took 1 hour, 10 minutes. When they prepared to return home, the pilot asked his flight instructor if he had purchased any fuel. The instructor thought he was referring to gasoline purchased for the houseboat, and he replied he had purchased 60 gallons. The pilot said that when they took off, he thought he had more fuel on board than there actually was. The takeoff and climb to 11,500 feet was made on the left tank. After 30 minutes, he switched to the right tank. Knowing the right fuel gauge was unreliable, he drew fuel from the right tank until it ran dry about 1 hour later. He switched back to the left tank and climbed to 13,500 feet. The airplane had now been in the air approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes. Ten to 15 minutes later, the engine "sputtered" and lost power. The left fuel gauge indicated 1/3 full. All attempts to restore engine power were to no avail. He turned and glided towards an airport. When he turned final for runway 24, he lost sight of the runway because the sun was in his eyes. He selected a field and touched down 1/4-mile to the right runway centerline and 1 mile short of the runway. The landing gear was torn off and the empennage was extensively damage. The left wing struck a fence post and breached the fuel tank. Fuel leaked from the tank, "but not a whole lot." The pilot said he used an average fuel consumption rate of 15 gallons per hour fuel when making endurance and range calculations. He estimated he had an hour's worth of fuel on board plus reserves. Later, he admitted the engine most likely post power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate preflight planning which failed to determine the fuel supply was inadequate resulting in fuel exhaustion and the loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/9/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1810 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Salida |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81201 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 383300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1060250W |
| Event Location Airport | Harriet Alexander |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0V2 |
| 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 | 60 |
| Airport Elevation | 7489 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | U07 |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7489 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9502 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17290 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 9 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1850 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 24 2005 9:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, Colorado |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N732TE |
| NTSB Number | DEN05LA008 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 210M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21061755 |
| 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 | Sep 16 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 6748 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Caesar Air LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 19143 Strawberry La. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Monument |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80132 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | U07 |
| Departure City | Bullfrog Basin |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1630 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | COS |
| Destination City | Colorado Spring |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| 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 | 24 |
| Runway Length | 7350 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |