Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kennewick, Washington 99350
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 17:42 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane lost engine power and collided with terrain during the forced landing. According to the pilot, after purchasing the airplane and being briefed on the fuel system, he departed on the first leg of the transcontinental flight. The fuel system was comprised of a 10 gallon overhead center tank which fed directly into a 2 gallon header tank. Also incorporated into the system was a 10 gallon right wing tank whose fuel line teed into the center tank's line. A shutoff valve was incorporated in the "T" which would allow both tanks to feed the header tank simultaneously. Procedures called to use half of the fuel in the center tank before opening a shutoff valve. On the first leg of the flight the pilot flew 45 minutes before opening the shutoff valve. After landing approximately 35 minutes later he instructed the fueling attendant to fill both the center and wing tanks so he could judge the consumption of fuel from each tank. After fueling was completed the attendant advised the pilot that he had put 8.5 gallons of fuel in the center tank, and that the wing tank was full. The pilot commented that this wasn't right, but voiced no further concerns and departed on the next leg of the flight, a distance of about 90 nautical miles. About one hour into the flight the pilot opened the wing tank shut off valve, and when he was about an hour and 30 or 40 minutes into the flight while descending he encountered a "surge" in the engine. The pilot added carburetor heat with no success, and when the engine quit completely he elected to land in a wheat field. After touching down and impacting a plow rut the airplane nosed over and came to rest on its back in an inverted position, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane's vertical stabilizer. The pilot stated that he felt the reason for the engine failure was due to fuel exhaustion as a result of fuel being vented from the wing tank, which resulted in fuel from the center tank being sucked into and replacing the fuel in the wing tank. Further examination by the FAA failed to reveal any fuel present at the accident site. It was also noted that the installation of the wing tank was a modification of the airplane, which required a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC). A search by the FAA failed to reveal an STC for this aircraft relative to the right wing tank installation. The inspector also supervised an engine test run with no anomalies noted. The reason for the reported loss of engine power could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, which resulted in a forced landing and subsequent nose over. A factor was the unsuitable terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/27/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1742 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Kennewick |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99350 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 460756N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1193559W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 51 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PSC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 407 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10600 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 19 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.85 |
| 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) | 19278 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 27 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1900 |
| 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 | Spokane, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8023R |
| NTSB Number | SEA05LA089 |
| 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 | Aeronca |
| Aircraft Model | 0-58B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 058B5352 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1300 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James N. Dent |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Plantation |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33325 |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | DLS |
| Departure City | The Dalles |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | S98 |
| Destination City | Kennewick |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 15 2005 5:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |