Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Memorial Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hot Springs, Arkansas 71913
Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:45 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane departed with 50 gallons of fuel onboard (confirmed by receipts and a lineman) of which 2.6 gallons was unusable. The pilots verified that the fuel was correct and was not contaminated. During the flight, they appropriately leaned the mixture for each altitude at which they were flying. About 1 hour into the flight, they switched to the left fuel tank, and about 1 hour 42 minutes later, they switched back to the right fuel tank. About 8 miles from the airport, the engine lost power. The pilots turned on the fuel pump, and the engine regained power briefly. They selected the left fuel tank, and the engine again regained power. The pilots expected to make the airport and estimated that 8 gallons of fuel remained, which would have met required fuel reserves. About 3 miles from the airport, the engine lost power again. The pilots switched to the right fuel tank. However, the engine produced short “bursts of power.” At this point, the left seat pilot turned control over to the right seat pilot. A small, clear, grassy area was selected for a forced landing. The left wing impacted a tree, and the nose hit another tree. An examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks were intact. The flight’s fuel planning was reviewed and found to be adequate to complete the flight. Using the manufacturer’s “best power” fuel mixture setting, 41.6 gallons of fuel would be needed to complete the flight. However, 26 ounces of fuel was recovered from both fuel tanks. The pilots stated the fuel gauges worked during the flight. The pilot operating handbook indicated that it is “the pilot’s responsibility to ascertain that the fuel quantity indicators are functioning and maintaining a reasonable degree of accuracy, and to be certain of ample fuel for a flight.” It is likely that the pilots did not use the best power fuel mixture setting throughout the flight, thus burning more fuel than they had planned for the flight. However, they should have been monitoring the fuel consumption and landed before the fuel was exhausted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilots’ failure to monitor and manage fuel consumption during cruise flight, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a subsequent forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/30/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Hot Springs |
| Event State | ARKANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 71913 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 342731N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0930756W |
| Event Location Airport | MEMORIAL FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HOT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 237 |
| Airport Elevation | 540 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 57 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HOT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 540 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 19 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KHOT 011653Z AUTO 03010G19KT 10SM CLR 28/12 A2996 |
| 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) | 32644 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-ASW-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 3 2014 9:48AM |
| User who most recently changed record | male |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3KT |
| NTSB Number | CEN13LA381 |
| 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 | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | C23 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | M-1899 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2450 |
| 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 | Jul 14 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2988 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SEYMOURS SUNDOWNERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | OAK PARK |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91377-5522 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SEYMOURS SUNDOWNERS LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | OAK PARK |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 91377-5522 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | AUS |
| Departure City | Austin |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HOT |
| Destination City | Hot Springs |
| Destination State | AR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2014 6:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | male |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 05 |
| Runway Length | 6595 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |