Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ewell, Maryland 21824
Sunday, October 2, 2011 15:13 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot made an uneventful 45-minute cross country flight from his home airport to the destination airport. About 10 minutes into the return flight, the airplane was cruising over water at 2,000 feet mean sea level when it experienced a total loss of engine power. The pilot attempted to glide to an island and performed emergency procedures; however, he did not verify the position of the fuel tank selector. The airplane glided about 2 miles before ditching in the water. The airplane was equipped with main and auxiliary fuel tanks that held 26 and 9 gallons of fuel, respectively, and the engine burned about 9 gallons of fuel per hour; the pilot reported that both tanks were full when he departed from his home airport. The pilot further reported that, if he had accidentally left the fuel selector positioned to the auxiliary fuel tank prior to departing his home airport, he would have had just enough fuel to fly the outbound leg, begin the return leg, and lose engine power where he did. When the airplane was recovered, the fuel selector was found positioned to the auxiliary fuel tank. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. In the pilot’s operating handbook for the airplane, the procedure for an engine failure during flight stated that, for airplanes equipped with an auxiliary fuel tank, the pilot should ascertain that the fuel selector valve is on a tank containing fuel.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper fuel management in that he did not verify the fuel selector position before beginning the flight or after the power loss, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation and subsequent ditching.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/2/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1513 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ewell |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 21824 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 375717N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0760527W |
| 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 | 1452 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NHK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 39 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30141 |
| NTSB Notification Source | News Media |
| 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 8:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3825K |
| NTSB Number | ERA12FA002 |
| 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 | TEMCO |
| Aircraft Model | GC-1B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3514 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1825 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 25 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 5005 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROSS LANSON C |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WEST SACRAMENTO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95691-5855 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | ROSS LANSON C |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WEST SACRAMENTO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95691-5855 |
| 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 | TGI |
| Departure City | Tangier |
| Departure State | VA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | W32 |
| Destination City | Clinton |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2012 5:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |