Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Livingston, Alabama 35470
Saturday, October 26, 2013 13:45 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On October 26, 2013, about 1345 central daylight time, a Cessna 150H, N684RA, was substantially damaged during a precautionary landing and subsequent nose-over near Livingston, Alabama. The two commercial pilots on board were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight, which originated from Cullman Regional Airport (CMD), Cullman, Alabama, about 1215. The flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
Following his purchase of the airplane, the pilot serviced the airplane with fuel at the self-service fuel pumps before departing to his home airport. He stated that after approximately 45 minutes of flight, he noticed that the alternator was "discharging," and that the fuel quantity displayed on the gauges was rapidly decreasing. The pilot then elected to perform a precautionary landing to a field. At touchdown, the nose landing gear dug into the soft soil and the airplane nosed over, which resulted in substantial damage to the engine firewall.
When asked how the engine was performing, the pilot/owner said, "The engine was running fine…" and that it "did not quit."
Sometime after the airplane departed CMD, a fuel cap similar to those installed on the accident airplane make and model was found at the self-service fuel pumps.
The pilot recovered the airplane from the accident site, and transported it by truck to his home in Louisiana, but did not report the accident until January 16, 2014. During recovery, he noted that one fuel tank was empty, and the other contained about "1/4 tank" of fuel. He added, "So it's a good thing I landed when I did, because it wasn't the gauges, they were reading accurately"
Photographs of the wreckage revealed a collapsed nose landing gear and substantial damage to the engine firewall. The wings were removed, and the fuel tanks had been removed from the wings. One tank had a fuel cap installed, while the other did not. The pilot and a mechanic he hired determined that the airplane had both a "bad fuel line" as well as an electrical problem.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and maintenance records, the airplane was manufactured in 1968. Its most recent annual inspection was completed May 18, 2013, at 7,173 total aircraft hours. The airplane was equipped with two fuel tanks, one in each wing, and each were serviced through a capped port on top of the wing. The total fuel capacity was 26 gallons, or 13 gallons per tank, of which a total of 22.5 gallons were usable.
The pilot/owner held a commercial private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine, multiengine, and instrument airplane. His most recent FAA third class medical certificate was issued in January, 2014.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Both fuel caps were forwarded to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC for examination. While similar, the caps were not identical. Examination by a materials specialist revealed that the red paint on each cap was consistent with the paint on the other.
Prior to the precautionary landing, the airplane traveled approximately 140 miles in calm winds. Interpolation of performance, fuel consumption charts, and a 100 mile-per-hour cruising speed revealed an average fuel consumption rate of 6 gallons per hour. Engine start, run-up, taxi, takeoff, and initial climb were not computed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/26/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1345 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Livingston |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 35470 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 323520N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0881028W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 1300 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 104 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KDYA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 112 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.28 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Birmingham FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2014 11:48AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N684RA |
| NTSB Number | ERA14LA094 |
| 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 | 150H |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15068698 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1601 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 2 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 18 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 7173 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Charles E. Puckett |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Prarieville |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70769 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Charles E. Puckett |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Prarieville |
| Operator State | LA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 70769 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KCMD |
| Departure City | Cullman |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1215 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | L38 |
| Destination City | Gonzales |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2014 11:48AM |
| 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 | -- |