Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Borinquen, Puerto Rico 00603
Friday, June 23, 2006 13:12 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport certificated pilot purchased the twin engine airplane about two days before the flight. He indicated that the airplane had a fuel capacity of 192 gallons, and had an endurance of 7.5 to 8 hours. He departed on a Title 14, CFR Part 91 cross-country flight for an airport that was about 908 miles away. The airplane was equipped with auxiliary wingtip fuel tanks, and the pilot said the airplane consumed about 23 gallons of fuel per hour. Five hours and 12 minutes after takeoff, after consuming an estimated 122 gallons, the pilot said that the main fuel tanks were dry, and he was trying to draw fuel from the auxiliary tanks without success. He said the fuel gauges for the auxiliary tanks were indicating 1/4 full, but both engines were surging. He stated that there still should have been about 50 gallons of fuel in the airplane's wingtip tanks, and he tried every fuel tank and cross-feed combination, but the engines lost power, and he ditched the airplane about 829 miles from his departure point. The airplane sank in deep water, and was not recovered.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel starvation/exhaustion for an undetermined reason during cruise flight, which resulted in a complete loss of engine power to both engines and a ditching in the ocean.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/23/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1312 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Borinquen |
| Event State | PUERTO RICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00603 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 190818N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0671806W |
| 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 | 1253 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 325 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TJBQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 237 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 33 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| 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) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20932 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA, San Juan PR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 23 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA San Juan,PR FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N75JF |
| NTSB Number | ANC06LA078 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-23-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 27-7554168 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5200 |
| 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 | May 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James W. Herron |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas |
| Aircraft Owner State | VI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 00802 |
| 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 | KFXE |
| Departure City | Ft. Lauderdale |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TIST |
| Destination City | St. Thomas |
| Destination State | VI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 14 2006 1:14PM |
| 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 | -- |