Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

College Station, Texas 77845
Thursday, November 10, 2011 9:45 CDT

The pilot reported that, after 2.25 hours of cross country flight, the left engine lost power and began to surge. The pilot contacted air traffic control, declared an emergency, and asked the controller for vectors to the nearest airport. During the descent toward an abandoned airport, the left engine continued to surge, and the pilot adjusted the mixture controls to full rich on both engines, turned on the fuel boost pumps, checked the magnetos, and checked the fuel valves. As the airplane descended through 3,000 feet mean sea level, the right engine surged and lost power. The pilot assessed that he could not make it to the airport and decided to land on a farm road. While turning from base leg to final approach for the road, the pilot lowered the landing gear and assessed that he would not be able to reach the road. Subsequently, the airplane hit the tops of trees about 50 feet from the road and descended to the ground with the main landing gear touching down first. As the nose landing gear touched the ground, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the front of the fuselage and the rudder. Emergency responders to the accident scene reported that they did not see or smell the presence of fuel around the wreckage. An FAA inspector who responded to the accident site did not find evidence of fuel in the wreckage or the surrounding area. After the accident, the pilot initially said that he ran out of fuel and that he was not certain of the amount of fuel that was in the airplane when he departed on the flight. Later, the pilot reported that, based on a visual inspection, he estimated he had about 136 gallons of fuel on board prior to commencing the flight.

The total loss of engine power from both engines, which resulted from fuel exhaustion due to the pilot’s inadequate pre-flight preparation.