Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Coxs Well Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atomic City, Idaho 83215
Friday, May 1, 2009 13:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot/owner and a pilot rated passenger flew to a local airport for a brief stop, and then continued to another nearby airport where the passenger performed a touch-and-go. He had begun a slight right turn during the climbout from the touch-and-go when the engine lost power about 250 feet above ground level (agl). The owner took control, turned back to the left, and tried to land on the end of the runway. He leveled off slightly about 20 feet agl, and then flared for landing. The airplane landed hard on the north side of the runway and the right wheel broke off. The landing gear dug into the turf, the airplane spun 180 degrees, and the right main landing gear collapsed. The airframe around the tailwheel and rudder sustained substantial damage. The owner indicated that the airplane had a header tank that was the only fuel supply for the engine in addition to the wing tanks that were used to supply the header tank. He used an electric fuel pump to manually transfer fuel from the wing tanks to the header tank. He stated that he usually did not let the header tank get less than half full since the fuel pick-up port for the engine driven pump is at the front of the tank. He said that he probably let the fuel level get too low on this flight. During the climbout with the nose up, he surmised that the header tank fuel pick-up unported, resulting in the loss of power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the pilot's inadequate fuel management.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/1/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Atomic City |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83215 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 431305N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1131338W |
| Event Location Airport | Coxs Well |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | U48 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5034 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 130 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KPIH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4452 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25467 |
| 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 | Jul 8 2009 10:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4272M |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA225 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | RANS |
| Aircraft Model | S-7 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0693110 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1232 |
| 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 | Nov 8 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2593 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Errol Spaulding |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Rigby |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83442 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Errol Spaulding |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Rigby |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83442 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | U46 |
| Departure City | Atomic City |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | U48 |
| Destination City | Atomic City |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2009 5:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 2700 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |