Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lopez, Washington 98261
Friday, July 1, 2005 18:55 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, during his preflight inspection, he determined the fuel aboard the airplane by looking at the wing fuel sight gauges. The left and right fuel sight gauges indicated 45 gallons and 55 gallons, respectively, which was "sufficient" fuel for the planned 1 hour 50 minute cross country flight. During the flight, both engines lost power, and the pilot ditched the airplane in ocean waters about 8 nautical miles short of the destination airport. Review of maintenance records indicated that about 4 months before the accident, fuel leaks in the airplane's left and right wings were repaired by replacing the right hand outboard and left hand inboard leading edge fuel cells. This repair involved replacement of both wing fuel sight gauges. According to one of the two mechanics who performed the work, when the sight gauges were removed to replace the tanks, he and the other mechanic marked the sight gauges "R" and "L" and made hash marks on the mounting plates. When they reinstalled the sight gauges, they used the hash marks to put them back in their original positions. Interviews of the airplane's owner and another mechanic provided conflicting information about whether the fuel sight gauges had been repositioned by this mechanic following completion of the fuel cell repair work. Review of the Pilot's Operating Handbook revealed that the fuel sight gauges are to be used for partial filling or off-loading of fuel and only when the gauge reads within the calibrated area between 40 and 60 gallons. When the airplane was examined, the fuel tanks were empty. The right wing fuel sight gauge indicated 55 gallons. The left wing fuel sight gauge initially indicated in the cross hatched area; but after it was jiggled, it indicated 43 gallons. When the fuel sight gauge access plates were removed, it was noted that black felt tip pen marks (hash marks) on the fuel sight gauge mount plates and on the fuel sight gauges did not align. Further examination revealed that the gauges were installed improperly, such that the floats were restricted in their range of travel by the wing structure. When the gauges were rotated to a position where the hash marks aligned, the gauge floats had a full range of travel, and both gauges indicated in the cross hatched (unusable) area. Information provided by the airplane's owner and a trip book found in the airplane indicated that at the time the pilot conducted his preflight and at the time of the accident, the airplane had been flown 3.9 hours and 5.5 hours, respectively, since its last refueling. Using the fuel burn rate provided by the owner of 30 gallons per hour, the airplane would burn 165 gallons of fuel in 5.5 hours. Further, in the 3.9 hours flown by the owner, the airplane would burn 117 gallons. Subtracting 117 gallons from the airplane's usable fuel capacity of 166 gallons indicated that when the pilot preflighted the airplane, it contained about 49 usable gallons of fuel with each wing holding about 24.5 usable gallons of fuel. If the sight gauges had been properly installed, they would have read in the cross hatched (unusable) area. The airplane was equipped with left and right fuel quantity indicators mounted in the instrument panel. According to the owner, these indicators did not work properly and several maintenance facilities had worked on them without resolving the problem. He and other family members who flew the airplane (including the accident pilot) used the sight gauges to determine the amount of fuel aboard the airplane for partial fuel loads.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane which resulted in a dual loss of engine power during normal descent due to fuel exhaustion. A contributing factor was the incorrect installation of the left and right wing fuel sight gage/float assemblies by unknown persons, resulting in a false indication on the wing fuel sight gages.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/1/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1855 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lopez |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98261 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 482902N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1225616W |
| 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 | 1853 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FHR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 107 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20272 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 1 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2006 3:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N686T |
| NTSB Number | SEA05FA136 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | E-55 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | TE-986 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5300 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | 3772 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | M.F. Reed |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 219 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sisters |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97759 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | William R. Reed |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 218 |
| Operator City | Sisters |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97759 |
| 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 | RDM |
| Departure City | Redmond |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1713 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FHR |
| Destination City | Friday Harbor |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 20 2006 8:45PM |
| 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 | -- |