Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fremont Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fremont, Michigan 49412
Saturday, May 18, 2013 14:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that the purpose of the accident flight was to release four skydivers at 10,500 feet mean sea level (msl). The pilot reported that, before the accident flight, he used a calibrated dipstick to determine how much fuel was on board the airplane. The left and right fuel tanks contained 10 and 5 gallons of fuel, respectively. He noted that the skydiving flight typically took a single pass over the landing zone, which required about 20 to 25 minutes of flight time and 8 gallons of fuel; however, the accident flight required two passes over the landing zone at 10,500 feet msl, which added about 2 to 5 minutes to the accident flight. He reported that the flight climbed to 10,500 feet msl and the skydivers were released without any anomalies or malfunctions with the airplane. The pilot immediately initiated a descent to reenter the traffic pattern at the departure airport, and the airplane experienced a loss of engine power while on the downwind leg. A helicopter was approaching the airport at a similar altitude, which delayed the turn onto the base leg. Believing he had insufficient altitude to reach the runway, the pilot performed a forced landing to a field. The nose landing gear collapsed shortly after touchdown, and the airplane subsequently nosed over. Following the accident, the pilot reported to several individuals that the airplane "ran out of fuel," which resulted in the loss of engine power while in the traffic pattern. Additionally, the pilot stated that there were no mechanical issues with the engine before the loss of engine power. During a postaccident examination, 3.5 gallons of fuel were recovered from the airplane. According to the Pilot Operating Handbook, the airplane has 3 gallons of unusable fuel while operating in level flight and 10 gallons of unusable fuel while in flight attitudes other than level flight; therefore, the airplane did not have enough fuel for the accident flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper preflight planning, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion while in the traffic pattern.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/18/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fremont |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49412 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 432622N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0855942W |
| Event Location Airport | Fremont Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KFFX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.125 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 772 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1354 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KFFX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 772 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KFFX 181754Z AUTO 12003KT 10SM CLR 25/06 A30 |
| 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) | 31931 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Central Region Duty Offic |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 31 2013 5:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9075T |
| NTSB Number | CEN13LA286 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 52975 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 20 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 87 |
| Airframe Hours | 4429 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William A. Schram |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hudsonville |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 49426-9742 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Premier Skydiving |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Fremont |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 49412 |
| 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) | Skydiving |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KFFX |
| Departure City | Fremont |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KFFX |
| Destination City | Fremont |
| Destination State | MI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2013 3:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | foxt |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 3502 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |