Empson F4UCORSAIR N914DA

Summary

On 5 April 2001 at about 20:16 local time, a Empson F4UCORSAIR registered N914DA was involved in an accident near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. One person was 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 April 2001 at 20:16

Classification

Accident

Location

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Baton Rouge Metropolitan (BTR)

Coordinates

30.4501, -91.1874

Aircraft

Empson F4UCORSAIR

Registration

N914DA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Conroe → Baton Rouge

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW01LA093

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inadequate preflight planning resulting in fuel exhaustion during approach. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Based upon the pilot's preflight planning, the homebuilt experimental airplane should have reached the destination airport with 1/2 hour of fuel reserve. The pilot was instructed to fly the airplane on a 3-mile base for runway 22R, and subsequently cleared to land the airplane on runway 22R. Before the base to final turn, the pilot reported to the tower controller that the engine "stopped." Subsequently, the pilot performed the emergency procedures and informed the tower controller that the flight would not make the runway. During the forced landing in a field, the airplane came to rest against a fence and fence post. The FAA inspector, who responded to the site, reported "fuel exhaustion." The pilot stated "this accident could have been prevented if I had used the wind information available at the time of departure and allowed for poor navigation, [and] more fuel burned than anticipated."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.