Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Herndon, Virginia 20170
Friday, May 31, 2013 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot and passenger planned to complete an aerial observation/photography flight across multiple sites during the daytime and at night. The airplane was fueled to its maximum capacity of 49 gallons before departing from the airplane’s home base to accomplish the daylight portion of the mission. After one intermediate stop and 3.38 hours of flight time, the pilot landed the airplane to obtain additional fuel and wait for darkness to fall. After observing the remaining fuel quantity, the pilot estimated that 15 additional gallons of fuel would be necessary to complete the estimated remaining 3-hour flight, and 10 and 5 gallons of fuel were added to the left and right fuel tanks, respectively. The airplane subsequently departed and, about 2.9 hours into the flight, the engine lost total power. The pilot unsuccessfully attempted to glide the airplane to a runway at a nearby major airport, and the airplane impacted a residential structure. Examination of the wreckage following the accident revealed no evidence of fuel within the tanks or anywhere at the accident site even though both fuel tanks appeared to have been breached during the impact sequence.
Review of fuel consumption data from an onboard engine fuel flow display device showed that 37.6 of the available 49 gallons of usable had been consumed during the flights immediately preceding the accident flight. The pilot added 15 gallons to the remaining 11.4 gallons for a total of 26.4 usable gallons of fuel at the time of departure. The fuel flow display device showed that, during the accident flight, the engine had consumed 29.2 gallons of fuel before losing power. Although the estimated calculations showed that the total quantity consumed was greater than the total quantity available, considering the lack of fuel observed at the accident site and the pilot’s statements to air traffic control regarding the airplane’s fuel state, it is apparent that the total loss of engine power was the result of fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a subsequent total loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/31/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 12 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Herndon |
| Event State | VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20170 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 385754N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0772455W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | 452 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 238 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KIAD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 323 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KIAD 310452Z 20005KT 10SM CLR 22/18 A3015 RM |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 3 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32786 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Communication Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2014 9:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N177FG |
| NTSB Number | ERA13LA258 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 177B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17701781 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2500 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 12 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 60 |
| Airframe Hours | 4992 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 905 PLUM ST SW |
| Aircraft Owner City | VIENNA |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 22180-6506 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 905 PLUM ST SW |
| Operator City | VIENNA |
| Operator State | VA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 22180-6506 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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) | Aerial Observation |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PNE |
| Departure City | Philadelphia |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2140 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HEF |
| Destination City | Manassas |
| Destination State | VA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2014 10:04AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |