Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fairfield County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Tuesady, May 6, 2014 21:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot and pilot-rated passenger were conducting night touch-and-go landings and were in the traffic pattern for the second landing when the engine experienced a partial loss of power. The pilot advanced the throttle lever to increase the engine rpm, but the engine did not respond. The pilot moved the throttle lever, mixture control, and fuel selector and turned on the fuel pump in an attempt to troubleshoot the loss of power. Unable to restore engine power, the pilot made an emergency landing in a field. A postaccident examination revealed that the fuel selector valve was in the OFF position. The right tip fuel tank did not contain any fuel. The other three fuel tanks were mostly full of fuel.
Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Directive (AD) 77-12-01, applicable to the accident airplane, was issued on June 10, 1977, to prevent a fuel system malfunction and a possible power interruption. AD 77-12-01 requires regular inspection of the fuel selector valve; it was most recently completed during the annual inspection, about 5 months before the accident, and no anomalies were noted. A postaccident engine run revealed that the engine operated with no anomalies. The fuel selector valve was obviously worn and degraded to the point that it would not control the fuel flow. The detents were very worn and fuel continued to flow through the selector valve even when between detents and in the OFF position. Thus, the loss of engine power was likely a result of the deteriorated fuel selector valve, which allowed fuel to feed only from the right tip tank until it was exhausted. It is also likely that the deterioration of the fuel selector valve was overlooked during the last annual inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel starvation due to the deterioration of the fuel selector valve, which allowed fuel to be fed from only the right tip tank. Contributing to the accident was the inadequate annual inspection, which failed to detect the deteriorated valve.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/6/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2130 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lancaster |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 43130 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394513N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0824028W |
| Event Location Airport | FAIRFIELD COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LHQ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 261 |
| Airport Elevation | 868 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2053 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 80 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KLHQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 869 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 60 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KLHQ 070053Z AUTO 06006KT 10SM CLR 16/06 A29 |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 33210 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 16 2014 2:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | linj-i |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5222S |
| NTSB Number | CEN14LA233 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA 32-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-40917 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 4 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 5 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 39 |
| Airframe Hours | 3055 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SMITH CHRISTOPHER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | CARROLL |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 431129709 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SMITH CHRISTOPHER |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | CARROLL |
| Operator State | OH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 431129709 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LHQ |
| Departure City | Lancaster |
| Departure State | OH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2120 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LHQ |
| Destination City | Lancaster |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2014 2:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | linj-i |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10 |
| Runway Length | 5004 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |