Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Riddle, Idaho 83604
Sunday, April 5, 2009 22:45 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot made a 1 hour 20 minute flight to a private strip in the morning, and expected to be working there for a few hours. His work ended up lasting all day, and he did not depart until sundown. He stated that he was very tired and anxious to get home. His panel-mounted global positioning satellite system (GPS) was not internally lit, and after getting airborne he discovered that a flashlight that he kept in the airplane for this purpose did not work. Rather than return to the departure airport for another light, he decided to travel north until he intersected Interstate 84, where he could turn west and follow it home. He saw an intersection approaching, turned west, and gave no further thought to navigation. He was 5,000 feet above ground level (agl) and stated that he could not be sure that this was the proper highway to follow. He noted that he was so tired that he forgot that he had a handheld GPS in his backpack that was internally lit. He noticed that the highway turned south, so he continued west thinking that he would pick it up again when it turned back to the north. About 30 minutes later, the pilot realized that he had been following the wrong road. He became very disoriented and turned north attempting to locate a town that he could recognize. He then used his cell phone to light up the face of the panel-mounted GPS, discovered that he was 150 miles from Boise, Idaho, and turned toward it. About 10 minutes later, he realized that he did not have enough fuel to make it to Boise or even the next closest airport. He continued on toward Boise hoping that he would find a road or clear place to land. At an altitude of 4,000 feet agl, the engine lost power. He saw no traffic on any road to help find a landing spot. He was in an extremely remote area and only saw three lights on the ground that were about 1/2-mile apart. He landed on rough terrain near a house, and all three landing gear sheared off at touchdown.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's becoming lost and disoriented. Contributing to the accident was fatigue, as reported by the pilot.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/5/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2245 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Riddle |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83604 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 421000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1160600W |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2153 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KTWF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4151 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 89 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 5 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 25421 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NWR Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 2 2009 2:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N610RJ |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA181 |
| 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 | Max A Boesiger Jr |
| Aircraft Model | Pulsar |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | P97060632 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 350 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Max A Boesiger, Jr |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Eagle |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83616 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Max A Boesiger, Jr |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Eagle |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83616 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure City | Lucine |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1945 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | UEL |
| Destination City | Caldwell |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 6 2009 11:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |