Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Eldorado Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Dorado, Texas 76936
Sunday, July 9, 2006 8:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 248-hour private pilot was on a 861-nautical mile cross-country flight in a single-engine airplane, when the engine lost power while in cruise flight at an altitude of 8,500 feet msl. Due to a low cloud cover, the pilot was unable to visually locate the nearest airport, however, he was able to locate a nearby road and he turned towards the road for a possible forced landing. As the pilot proceeded toward the road, he noticed an airport was located off to his left and behind him, so he elected to turn the airplane toward the airport. Due to the strong headwind, the pilot quickly realized that he would not be able to reach the airport. The pilot then made a right hand turn and landed in a field. Prior to touching down, the airplane's left wing collided with a tree and the landing gear collided with a fence before the airplane came to a complete stop. The pilot reported that he did not switch the fuel tanks in flight "which was the result of the engine failing." The pilot added that the fuel gauges were inaccurate and the fuel consumption had to be monitored via a timer. The pilot stated that approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to the loss of engine power, he told himself that he needed to switch the fuel tanks "soon." In addition, the pilot said that he "went through all the procedures except switching tanks" in an attempt to troubleshoot the power loss.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to switch fuel tanks during cruise flight, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/9/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | El Dorado |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 76936 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | Plas e. |
| Event Location Longitude | Pleseen. |
| Event Location Airport | Eldorado Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 27R |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2448 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 845 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SOA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1900 |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| 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) | 30.07 |
| 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) | 20507 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 31 2006 8:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Antonio, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6697U |
| NTSB Number | DFW06CA181 |
| 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 | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M20C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2424 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Matt Petz |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bend |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97701 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Matt Petz |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Bend |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | 66R |
| Departure City | Columbus |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 700 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PEQ |
| Destination City | Pecos |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 9 2006 4:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |