Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sterling Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sterling, Massachusetts 01564
Saturday, November 27, 2004 14:20 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While approaching the destination airport, the homebuilt airplane's Rotax engine began to sputter and then stopped completely. The pilot attempted to glide the airplane to the runway, but due to the descent rate, he elected to land in trees 100 feet short of it. Examination of the fuel tanks revealed that no fuel was present. The airplane was equipped with two 13-gallon fuel tanks and a 0.9-gallon header tank. Prior to his initial departure, the pilot estimated that the left fuel tank was 3/8 full and the right fuel tank was 1/4 full. He subsequently flew the airplane on two 45-minute flights before the engine stopped, and estimated the total engine running time to be 2 hours plus. He also estimated the fuel consumption rate of the engine to be about 3.7 to 4 gallons per hour based on fuel consumption calculations from previous flights. The airplane kit manufacturer stated that the engine consumed about 4.5 gallons of fuel per hour at a cruise power setting, and about 6 gallons of fuel per hour at a high power setting.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate fuel consumption calculations, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/27/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1420 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Sterling |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01564 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 422533N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0714734W |
| Event Location Airport | Sterling Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3B3 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 340 |
| Airport Elevation | 459 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1352 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FIT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 348 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.38 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 17447 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NE Region Ops Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 27 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1624 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2005 6:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Windsor Locks FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N124KF |
| NTSB Number | IAD05LA017 |
| 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 | Chumsae |
| Aircraft Model | Kitfox Speedster |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | HCS124 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 381 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Raymond A. Chumsae |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Shrewsbury |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Ray A Chumsae |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Shrewsbury |
| Operator State | MA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 01545 |
| 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 | EEN |
| Departure City | Keene |
| Departure State | NH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 3B3 |
| Destination City | Sterling |
| Destination State | MA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |