Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Danielson Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Danielson, Connecticut 06241
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 18:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot flew nine skydiving flights on the day of the accident in the Cessna 182A. Each flight was approximately 30 minutes in duration. The airplane was refueled after approximately every other flight with about 12 gallons of fuel. Prior to takeoff for the tenth and final flight of the day, the pilot thought he had about 16 gallons of fuel in the airplane; however, he did not visually confirm how much fuel was in the tanks and could not remember what the fuel gauges indicated. The pilot departed and dropped one skydiver at an altitude of 4,000 feet and two more skydivers at 10,000 feet. Upon returning to the airport, he flew an extended downwind leg to maintain separation with another landing airplane. While turning onto final approach, the pilot attempted to increase engine power, but the engine did not respond. He continued toward the runway, and during the descent the airplane struck trees, impacted the ground, and flipped over, substantially damaging the left wing and fuselage. The airplane’s fuel system held 3 gallons of unusable fuel. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed 4 gallons of fuel were drained from the left fuel tank and about 1 gallon was drained from the right fuel tank. The fuel selector was set on both and preimpact mechanical anomalies were identified. The pilot thought the airplane burned about 12 gallons of fuel per hour, based on his 100 hours of experience in the accident airplane. According to the airplane pilot operating handbook (POH), the airplane burned 12 to 14 gallons per hour, depending on varying performance conditions.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot’s inadequate fuel consumption calculations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/27/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1855 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Danielson |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06241 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 414911N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0715403W |
| Event Location Airport | Danielson Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5B3 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 238 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1852 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IJD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 247 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| 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) | 30.07 |
| 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) | 24595 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA New England Region ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 28 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 11 2008 1:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grer |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Windsor Locks FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N169DP |
| NTSB Number | NYC08CA295 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34979 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Aug 1 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 8755 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Adrenaline Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3506 Airport Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chambersburg |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 17201 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Way-Up Skydive LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 41 Airport Road |
| Operator City | Danielson |
| Operator State | CT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 06239 |
| 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) | Skydiving |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 5B3 |
| Departure City | Danielson |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 5B3 |
| Destination City | Danielson |
| Destination State | CT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 11 2008 2:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grer |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31 |
| Runway Length | 2700 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |