Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pine Hill, Alabama 36769
Thursday, November 9, 2006 10:15 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that he completed five aerial application sorties before returning for fuel and fertilizer. The fuel and fertilizer was added to the airplane, and the pilot assumed the airplane had been topped off with fuel. The pilot did not visually check the fuel tanks. The airplane holds 82 gallons of fuel of which 2 gallons are unusable. The airplane burns 44 gallons of fuel per hour and it burns 15 gallons of fuel while at flight idle when the airplane is being loaded with fuel or fertilizer. The pilot stated that he was not sure how much fuel the airplane uses for taxi, takeoff, and climb to his cruise altitude. The pilot departed and flew five additional sorties before returning 1 hour 27 minutes later. The airplane remained at flight idle while fertilizer was loaded onto the airplane and no fuel was added. The pilot departed, climbed to 700 feet, and was in cruise flight when the engine lost power. The pilot turned to the left and made a forced landing to a field where trees had been harvested. The landing gear collided with the tree stumps on landing roll out, separated the landing gear, and the airframe received structural damage. Examination of the airplane by recovery personnel revealed that the fuel tank was not ruptured and no fuel was present in the fuel tank. No fuel spill was observed nor was there a presence of the smell of fuel at the crash site. The fuel line from the fuel tank to the airframe filters was severed. The main fuel line from the airframe filters was removed from the main engine fuel pump inlet fitting and residual fuel was present. The opposite end of the fuel line was removed from the exit side of the airframe filters and no fuel was present. The main fuel line to the engine was disconnected and no fuel was present. The fuel line from the inlet side of the airframe filters was disconnected and no fuel was present. The engine assembly was transported to an authorized repair facility. The engine assembly was installed in a test cell. The engine started in 22 seconds on the first attempt. The engine vibrated which was attributed to a suspected bent propeller shaft. All ground idle operations were normal. The fuel control unit and propeller governor were damaged. When power was applied, the fuel control unit and propeller governor would not govern the engine rpm. The engine was shut down, started three additional times, and ran for about 30 minutes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper fuel management resulting in a total loss of engine power in cruise flight due to fuel exhaustion, subsequent forced landing to non suitable terrain, and an on-ground collision with tree stumps on the landing roll out.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/9/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1015 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Pine Hill |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 36769 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 315801N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0873459W |
| 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 | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGZH |
| 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 | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| 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) | 20946 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 17 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 | Birmingham FSDO-09 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N962QC |
| NTSB Number | ATL07CA018 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Grumman |
| Aircraft Model | G-164B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 428B |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6075 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 7267 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Odom Aviation LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6197 Pomperal StreetMilton |
| Aircraft Owner City | Milton |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32570 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Robert D. Merrill |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 503 Olympia Drive |
| Operator City | Dothan |
| Operator State | AL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 36301 |
| Operator Code | M16G |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 71A |
| Departure City | Pine Hill |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1012 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2006 10:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |