Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
North Pole, Alaska 99705
Tuesady, August 29, 2006 19:30 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot was conducting a VFR, personal local flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the airplane lost all engine power during cruise flight. The pilot stated that he performed a preflight inspection prior to the local flight, and there were no signs of fuel contamination. The left wing fuel tank was about one-quarter full, the right wing fuel tank was about three-quarters full, and he said the takeoff and flight were uneventful until the airplane lost engine power. The pilot said he had the left wing fuel tank selected, and was cruising about 2000 feet above ground level. He said he switched tanks, and turned the airplane toward the only open ground in the vicinity. The airplane's engine failed to restart, and an emergency landing was made in a marsh. The pilot said when the airplane touched down, it rolled about 30 feet before it nosed over. In a written statement, the pilot reported that the airplane was equipped with "U" tube type fuel level indicators in the wing roots. He wrote that he believed that trapped fuel in the indicators gave him a false indication of the fuel quantity in the tanks. The pilot said he felt the loss of engine power was due to fuel starvation. He also noted in the section, Recommendation (How Could This Accident Have Been Prevented): "timing in fuel management." The airplane was not examined by the NTSB.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation during cruise flight, and an emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/29/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1930 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | North Pole |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99705 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 651145N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1460717W |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 21548 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 12 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2007 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Fairbanks FSDO-01 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N35395 |
| NTSB Number | ANC06LA129 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | J5A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5-646 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1872 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | John Ballard |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | North Pole |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99705 |
| 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 | 95Z |
| Departure City | Bradley Sky |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 15 2007 3:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |