Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Crystal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Llano, California 93544
Sunday, January 23, 2005 15:06 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Following a loss of engine power, the airplane collided with a sign, crushing the left wing, while the pilot was performing a forced landing on a road. After departing, with a glider in tow, the pilot entered a climb in an effort to reach an adequate altitude for the glider to release from the line. Upon reaching 1,000 feet above ground level (agl), the airplane's engine abruptly lost power. The glider released from the tow line and the pilot maneuvered the airplane towards a road. On the landing roll the left wing impacted a sign located on the side of the road, and the airplane ground looped. During a post-accident examination, investigators drained several ounces of fuel from gascolator, and the remaining fuel from the carburetor (less than a pint), noting no anomalies. The intact fuel tank contained no fuel and there was no evidence of in flight fuel leakage from the fuel strainer or tank. The engine started with no difficulties and preformed normally at several different power settings. The airplane had been flown 1.4 hours since the last refueling. According to the manufacturer, the engine consumes about 23 gallons of fuel per hour at maximum power of 2,575 revolutions per minute (rpm), and 19 gallons an hour at 2,500 rpm. The pilot thought that the airplane had an estimated 10 gallons of fuel on board prior to his last departure, but noted that the fuel gauge was unreliable. The accident flight lasted approximately 30 minutes, which would have resulted in the consumption of 9.5 gallons of fuel utilizing the 19-gallon/hour fuel consumption rate.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and failure to verify the amount of fuel onboard the airplane prior to departure, which resulted in loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/23/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1506 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Llano |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93544 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 342900N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1174930W |
| Event Location Airport | Crystal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 46CN |
| 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 | 3420 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PMD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2543 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3231 |
| 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) | 19226 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 23 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-VNY-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6745Z |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA075 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-25-235 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 25-2360 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Fredrick Robinson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Llano |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93544 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Great Western Soaring Co. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 32810 165TH ST E # 2A |
| Operator City | Llano |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93544 |
| 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) | Glider Tow |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 46CN |
| Departure City | Llano |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1435 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 1 2005 6:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |