Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Millinocket Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Millinocket, Maine 04462
Saturday, May 24, 2008 16:16 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of a rented Piper PA-32-260 utilized 14 gallons per hour fuel consumption for the estimated 3-hour cross country flight. With five people and camping gear onboard, the pilot was able to fill both main fuel tanks, and partially fill the left tip tank for a total of 60 gallons of fuel. Following the takeoff, the pilot climbed the airplane to 5,500 feet, and set the power for approximately 65 percent. The mixture was leaned, and set about half way between full rich and idle cutoff. However, "within the first hour of flight," the pilot noted the engine oil temperature "near the upper end of the green zone," and added "about 1 inch of mixture control lever stroke." The pilot first exhausted the fuel from the left tip tank, then alternated utilizing the left and right fuel main tanks every 30 minutes for most of the remainder if the flight. About 30 minutes prior to arriving at the destination airport, while passing near an en route city, the pilot observed approximately 14 gallons of fuel remaining, which he equated to 1 hour of flight time. About half way between the city and the destination, the pilot descended to 3,500 feet, and shortly thereafter, the fuel was exhausted from the left tank. The pilot switched to the right tank, but about 2 miles from the destination, "fuel was exhausted and the engine quit." The pilot then glided the airplane toward the airport, and cleared trees, but the main landing gear clipped a perimeter fence before the airplane landed on a road and rolled into a ditch. Neither the pilot nor the Federal Aviation inspector on scene noted any preimpact mechanical anomalies. Another airport was located about 20 miles closer and 5 miles to the right of the course to destination airport. The pilot reported 154 hours of flight time and 16 hours in make and model. He also noted that, in hindsight, he wished he had calculated fuel burn prior to reaching the en route city.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to properly monitor fuel consumption during the flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/24/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1616 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Millinocket |
| Event State | MAINE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 04462 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 453830N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0684050W |
| Event Location Airport | Millinocket Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MLT |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24638 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Com Center/New England RO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 3 2009 10:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grol |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4823S |
| NTSB Number | NYC08CA192 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-260 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-1254 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3952 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | IFLIGHT INTERNATIONAL LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 47 KIEV DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | SOUTHBURY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06488-2135 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | IFLIGHT INTERNATIONAL LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 47 KIEV DR |
| Operator City | SOUTHBURY |
| Operator State | CT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 06488-2135 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | OXC |
| Departure City | Oxford |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MLT |
| Destination City | Millinocket |
| Destination State | ME |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 2 2008 12:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |