Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tallahassee, Florida 32310
Friday, February 8, 2008 20:40 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot planed a flight from Frederick, Maryland to Tallahassee, FL. While on approach to the Tallahassee Regional Airport, the engine lost power and the airplane collided with powerlines and crashed onto a y road. A Leon County Sheriff's Office representative stated he heard over the dispatch radio communications to contact the local airport; an airplane was having problems. A few moments later he observed an explosion at the top of the power lines located on the southeast corner of the intersection, almost immediately the entire city in the vicinity went completely dark. He observed flames rain down over the intersection. Approximately 6 to 8 people ran from the gas station area located on the southwest corner of the intersection. This all took place as he heard over the dispatch radio "it's down, it's down." He observed an object strike the ground. The airplane was near vertical with the front of the airplane in the grass at the southwest corner of the intersection. He came to the aid of the pilot, the sole occupant in the airplane. He observed the pilot secured by the seatbelt and was pinned in the crashed cockpit area of the airplane. Fire rescue extracted the pilot and transported him to the local hospital. The responding FAA inspector stated that the airplane crashed 3 miles northeast of the Tallahassee Regional Airport, during an emergency landing. The airplane struck electrical power lines and a pole during the approach. The airplane impacted the ground nose first and remained in a near vertical position. There was no post crash fire and the fuel tanks were empty at the initial inspection of the airplane wreckage. During the interview with the pilot, he admitted to being embarrassed because he ran out of fuel in flight. The pilot stated "I even rocked the wings to use every drop of fuel". The pilot had flown about 5 hours 34 minutes at the time of the accident and he departed with 60 gallons of fuel.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Pilot's inaccurate fuel management resulting in fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/8/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2040 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Tallahassee |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32310 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 302347N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0842100W |
| 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 | 3 |
| 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 | KTHL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | -- |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23554 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communication 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 | Apr 30 2008 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N52495 |
| NTSB Number | MIA08CA054 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177RG |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | IO-360-A1B6D |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Hal E. McCord |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Clarksburg |
| Operator State | MD |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KFDK |
| Departure City | Frederick |
| Departure State | MD |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KTLH |
| Destination City | Tallahassee |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 29 2008 10:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| 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 | -- |