Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mineral County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Superior, Montana 59872
Wednesday, February 9, 2005 15:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot elected to make an unscheduled landing due to what he perceived as a low fuel state, as both fuel gages were indicating less than one-quarter full. While maneuvering in the traffic pattern to afford another airplane on the runway adequate time to depart, the airplane's engine began to run rough, then lost power completely. The pilot went through the checklist to restart the airplane, and nearing the end of the runway power was restored, but only briefly; the engine failed a second time and there was no attempt to restart it. A clearing was located in which to land and after touching down and rolling out, the nose gear impacted a berm, which resulted in the nose gear failing aft causing substantial damage to the firewall. During the recovery process approximately one quart of fuel was observed in the right tank and 5.5 gallons in the left tank; the fuel selector was positioned in the LEFT TANK position. The pilot said he thought the fuel selector was in the Right Tank position prior to the engine quitting, however, couldn't say for sure if he moved it to the LEFT TANK position when the engine quit. A post accident examination revealed no preimpact failures or malfunctions which would have precluded normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the pilot's inadequate planning/decision and improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation. A contributing factor was the berm.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/9/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Superior |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59872 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 470955N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1144858W |
| Event Location Airport | Mineral County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S94 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 2787 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 130 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MSO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3205 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.18 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18058 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Seattle Regional Operations Ce |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 9 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Helena, Montana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6399W |
| NTSB Number | SEA05LA048 |
| 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-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2820467 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 17 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2356.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Nile Kenneth Cunnington |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Idaho Falls |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83405 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure City | Three Rivers |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 9S4 |
| Destination City | Superior |
| Destination State | MT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2005 7:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |