Piper PA-28-181 N2161G

Summary

On 5 September 1998 at about 02:20 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N2161G, operated by Aviation West, was involved in an accident near Oroville, California, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 September 1998 at 02:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Oroville, California, United States

Coordinates

39.4996, -121.6705

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N2161G

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Aviation West

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Paula → Chico

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

LAX98LA284

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inaccurate preflight and in-flight fuel consumption calculations, which resulted in fuel exhaustion. The pilot's failure to obtain the proper engine power setting charts to use in fuel consumption calculations was also causal.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

After 4 hours of flight, the engine lost power and the pilot made a forced landing onto a road. The airplane struck a sign and veered off the road into rocks, which collapsed the nose gear. The pilot flew for 1-hour periods on the right tank, the left tank, and then the right tank again. He reselected the left tank and noted the right tank was on the empty mark. About 25 minutes later the engine lost power. The pilot maintained 1,000 feet for the first part of the flight, climbed to 6,500 feet, then descended to 4,500 feet for the remainder of the flight. He cruised at 2,500 rpm throughout the flight and leaned to 100 degrees rich of peak EGT (exhaust gas temperature). The performance section of the POH stated that the cruise power setting and cruise fuel flow should be selected using the Lycoming Operator's Manual (LOM). This manual was not in the airplane and he did not reference one during his preflight planning. He had never used this manual in his training or checkout in this type of airplane. The operating conditions section of the LOM stated that performance cruise (75 percent rated) was 2,450 rpm, 135 hp (horsepower), with a fuel consumption of 10.5 gph (gallons per hour). Above 75 percent, it said to maintain full rich position of the mixture control. Using the sea level and altitude performance chart at standard temperatures, Lycoming engineers determined the power generated under the conditions the pilot stated he encountered. For the portion of the flight at 1,000 feet, the airplane was generating 165 hp, and consuming fuel at the rate of 13.49 gph. At 6,500 feet, 134 hp was generated using 10.95 gph. At 4,500 feet, 144 hp was generated using 11.77 gph. The retriever drained 18 ounces of blue fuel from the wing fuel tanks and 3 ounces from the sediment bowl. An inspection of the airplane revealed the vents were clear, fuel flowed through the fuel system without leaks, and the spark plugs were clean.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.