Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sulphur, Louisiana 70663
Friday, August 8, 2014 17:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On August 8, 2014, about 1700 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-180, N4286T, was damaged during a forced landing following a loss of engine power near Sulphur, Louisiana. The pilot was not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage including buckling of the fuselage and wing structure and separation of the landing gear. The aircraft was registered to and operated by the pilot as a public use flight. The flight was contracted by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary as an observation flight and the pilot was returning to his home airport when the accident occurred. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The flight originated from the Chennault International Airport (CWF), Lake Charles, Louisiana at 1640. The Orange County Airport (ORG), Orange, Texas, was the intended destination.
The pilot reported that the he originally flew the airplane from ORG to CWF where he picked up a passenger. He then flew to an area about 35 miles south of CWF (Deep Lake) and then returned to CWF before departing on the accident flight. He reported that the airplane's engine lost power about 5 minutes after takeoff from CWF. He stated that he attempted to restart the engine but the starter would not engage. He executed a landing on a highway. During the landing, the airplane's landing gear collapsed resulting in damage to both wings and the engine firewall.
In a separate statement, the pilot reported that the airplane departed ORG with full fuel tanks, less a small amount used during previous maintenance. He stated that the entire flight from ORG to CWF to Deep Lake to CWF, and the accident leg were flown using only fuel from the left fuel tank. The pilot provided a photo of a GPS flight plan that indicated the calculated fuel usage to be about 15.4 gallons.
According to the airplane manufacturer, the airplane had a total fuel capacity of 50 gallons (25 gallons in each tank), with about 3 pints of unusable fuel.
A first responder to the accident, who holds an airline transport category pilot certificate, examined the airplane shortly after the accident. He stated that he removed the fuel tank caps and observed no fuel in the left fuel tank and full fuel in the right fuel tank. He also examined the fuel selector valve in the cockpit and found it to be positioned for the left fuel tank. He stated that no fuel was present on the ground or leaking from the airplane.
During recovery of the airplane about 22 gallons of fuel was drained from the right wing fuel tank and about 3 ounces of fuel was drained from the left wing fuel tank.
The airplane's engine was examined after the accident and the starter operated and engaged the engine flywheel. Both magnetos produced spark on all cylinders. The air inlet to the carburetor was clean and unobstructed. Cylinder compression was felt during rotation of the engine on all cylinders. Due to safety concerns arising from the damage that the airplane had incurred an engine test run was not attempted, however, no preimpact anomalies were detected.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/8/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1700 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sulphur |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70663 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 301160N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0931931W |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2150 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CWF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 17 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.95 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KCWF 082150Z 17009KT 10SM SCT035 BKN90 33/23 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 9 2014 10:43AM |
| User who most recently changed record | brajo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4286T |
| NTSB Number | CEN14TA421 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA 28-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 180 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7205132 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 2 |
| 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 | Apr 1 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 6939 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C91 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TURKEL RICHARD E |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2506 FAIRWAY DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | ORANGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 776302153 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | TURKEL RICHARD E |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2506 FAIRWAY DR |
| Operator City | ORANGE |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 776302153 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CWF |
| Departure City | Lake Charles |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1640 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ORG |
| Destination City | Orange |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 21 2014 9:39AM |
| User who most recently changed record | brajo |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |