Ketchikan Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Ketchikan, Alaska 99901
Friday, August 1, 2008 19:06 AKD

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The private pilot departed on an instrument flight rules (IFR), personal, cross-country flight after requesting that his airplane's fuel tanks be filled. The destination airport was about 521 nautical miles away. IFR conditions prevailed along the en route portion of the flight, but visual conditions prevailed at the destination airport. The airplane's fuel capacity was 90 gallons, and the engine consumed about 16.5 gallons per hour. The airplane was in cruise flight above the clouds and the pilot requested a visual approach from the south when he was about 19 miles southeast of the destination airport. The airport does not have terminal radar coverage, and is served by a flight service station. The request for a visual approach was not approved due to mountain obscuration south of the airport. The pilot was cleared for the ILS distance measuring equipment (DME) approach. The pilot was initially uncertain of his approach options, which included a radial transition to the localizer, outbound on the localizer with a procedure turn, or a no-procedure turn at 40 DME. He eventually understood and accepted the radial transition clearance, which required him to intercept the localizer course inbound on a 35-mile DME arc. As the airplane approached the inbound localizer heading, the pilot did not make the inbound turn. Air Route Traffic Control Center and Flight Service Station (FSS) personnel made various attempts to contact the pilot to request that he execute a missed approach procedure, but there was no immediate response. The pilot eventually reported that he had descended into visual conditions, but indicated that he was not sure where he was in relation to the airport. He determined his position and began to fly toward the airport at 3,000 feet. Communication with the airplane was garbled and broken for a short while since the airplane was now about 27 miles west of the airport. FSS personnel requested assistance from other airplanes in the area to locate the accident airplane and relay radio communications. About 7 minutes before the accident, the pilot radioed that he was low on fuel and probably would not make it to the airport. He ditched the airplane about 5.4 miles west-northwest of the airport after his fuel supply was exhausted. The pilot and the sole passenger escaped the sinking airplane and were rescued by a float-equipped airplane that had responded to the FSS request for assistance. The pilot reported that he missed the inbound turn onto the localizer because his autopilot failed to capture the localizer. He also said that during the flight headwinds were greater than expected, the cloud ceiling at the destination airport was lower than expected, and the fuel vendor at the departure airport may have not completely filled the fuel tanks to their maximum capacity. The pilot said that he did not visually inspect the fuel tanks prior to departure and that there was no mechanical malfunction of the airplane.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to ensure that there was sufficient fuel on board the airplane for the planned flight, and his inadequate flight planning and navigation, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and ditching short of the planned destination. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's geographic disorientation during his approach to the airport.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 8/1/2008
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1906
Event Time Zone --
Event City Ketchikan
Event State ALASKA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 99901
Event Date Year 2008
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 552537N
Event Location Longitude 1315034W
Event Location Airport Ketchikan
Event Location Nearest Airport ID PAKT
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 1853 Atlantic Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 289
Weather Observation Facility ID PAKT
Elevation of weather observation facility 88
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 5
Time Zone of the weather observation ADT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 4500
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 2500
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
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) 11
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 350
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.01
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 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 25061
NTSB Notification Source FAA Regional Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Aug 1 2008 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 13 2009 7:10PM
User who most recently changed record stam
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office FAA-AL-JNU FSDO 05

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N59214
NTSB Number ANC08LA095
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name CESSNA
Aircraft Model T210
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 21060164
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 3300
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Sep 12 2007 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 82
Airframe Hours 3248
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type Unknown
Aircraft Owner Name Robert C. Davis
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Beulah
Aircraft Owner State CO
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 81023
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Robert C. Davis
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Beulah
Operator State CO
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 81023
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
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 KBLI
Departure City Bellingham
Departure State WA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1430
Departure Time Zone ADT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code PAKT
Destination City Ketchikan
Destination State AK
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Emergency descent/landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 13 2009 7:10PM
User who most recently changed record stam
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location N/A
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --