Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Troy, South Carolina 29848
Tuesady, May 10, 2011 14:46 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and the pilot-rated passenger reported that they began the cross-country flight with about 15 gallons of fuel, which was enough to fly for 3 hours. About 1 hour after departure, the airplane was in cruise flight when the pilots received a low fuel pressure warning on the airplane's multifunction display. Shortly after, the airplane's engine began to sputter. The instructor maneuvered the airplane toward a road to execute a forced landing, and the engine experienced a total loss of power. During landing, the airplane's right wing impacted a telephone pole guy wire. The right wing separated from the airframe, and the airplane came to rest upright in a ditch. At the accident site, examination of the airplane's right wing fuel tank revealed a “sheen” of fuel, and the left wing fuel tank was found to be dry. About one cup of fuel was drained from the gascolator, and the carburetor float bowls were absent of fuel. Both a visual inspection and a successful test run of the engine after the accident revealed no evidence of any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies. Examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of fuel leakage from the wings or the engine compartment. It is likely that the pilots overestimated the amount of fuel aboard the airplane, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilots’ failure to ensure that the airplane had enough fuel to complete the planned flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/10/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1446 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Troy |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29848 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 335934N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0820305W |
| 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 | 1456 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 351 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GRD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 631 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| 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) | 30149 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA 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 | Aug 30 2012 9:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N78BZ |
| NTSB Number | ERA11LA292 |
| 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 | FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH |
| Aircraft Model | CTLS |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 07-11-22 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1320 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 2 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 296 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Kenneth Kennedy |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Greenville |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29607 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Mint Air, LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Greenville |
| Operator State | SC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 29607 |
| 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 | SSI |
| Departure City | Brunswick |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GMU |
| Destination City | Greenville |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2012 3:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| 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 | -- |