Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mc Kinnon, Tennessee 37061
Saturday, August 2, 2008 8:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of a Piper PA-28-140 stated that he estimated he had about 12 gallons of fuel when he started the airplane and departed to attend a breakfast fly-in. He climbed to a cruising altitude of 2,500 feet for the planned 35 to 40-minute-flight. When he was between 3.5 to 4 miles from his destination airport, he initiated a descent down to 2,000 feet and leveled the airplane. The engine sputtered and he initially thought he had a problem with carburetor ice. He applied carburetor heat, turned the boost pump on, checked the mixture was full rich, pumped the throttle, and the engine stopped. He initiated a forced landing to the trees when he realized he could not land at the destination airport. The pilot stated he did not have any mechanical problems with the airplane before the accident and "the loss of engine power was due to fuel starvation." Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the left and right main fuel tanks were not ruptured. No fuel was present in the left main fuel tank and about 1 cup of fuel was present in the right main fuel tank.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate fuel consumption calculations which led to fuel exhaustion and subsequent loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/2/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 840 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mc Kinnon |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 37061 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 361902N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0875501W |
| 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 | 855 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 47 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HOP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 573 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 33 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 25 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| 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) | 29.89 |
| 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) | 24275 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 2 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 26 2008 6:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Nashville FAA/FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4377J |
| NTSB Number | MIA08CA154 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-22763 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 2672 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Russell L. Sandstead |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Columbia |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38401 |
| 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 | 06TN |
| Departure City | Columbia |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | M93 |
| Destination City | Mc Kinnon |
| Destination State | TN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 5 2008 4:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grer |
| 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 | -- |