Champion 7ECA N9542S
14 July 2002 · Kittitas, Washington, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 14 July 2002 at about 01:20 local time, a Champion 7ECA registered N9542S, operated by Crawford, Gary N., was involved in an accident near Kittitas, Washington, United States. 2 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.
The record
- Date
- at 01:20
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Kittitas, Washington, United States
- Coordinates
- 47.0758, -120.3514
- Aircraft
- Champion 7ECA
- Registration
- N9542S
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Crawford, Gary N.
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Colfax → Kent
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- SEA02LA134
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to conduct an adequate preflight inspection of the fuel resulting in fuel exhaustion and a subsequent forced landing. A contributing factor was the rocky terrain encountered during the forced landing.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The pilot (front seat) accompanied by the individual (rear seat pilot) who had recently purchased the aircraft departed Colfax, Washington, en route to Kent, Washington. The amount of fuel available was not adequately verified by the pilot and after flying over 150 statute miles the aircraft's engine lost power and the pilot executed a forced landing on rocky terrain. The rear seat pilot reported that subsequent to the forced landing he checked the right wing fuel tank low point drain and observed only enough gas to moisten his thumb. A check of the left wing fuel tank low point drain yielded a steady stream of gas, but when he returned to the aircraft the following day to begin recovery procedures he was unable to siphon any gas from either tank. He also noted that there was no significant gas observed when the wings were removed from the airframe.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Champion 7 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Sep 2002 | Champion 7ECA | Stow, Massachusetts, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 11 Nov 2002 | Champion 7ECA | Faulkton, South Dakota, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 25 Aug 2001 | Champion 7FC | Reno, Nevada, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 28 Aug 2001 | Champion 7GCAA | Romeo, Michigan, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 22 Mar 2003 | Champion 7ECA | Raymond, Minnesota, United States | - | Serious injuries | - |
| 10 May 2001 | Champion 7EC | Monson, Maine, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
All 1,471 records for this type
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jan 2002 | Cessna 150M | Clinton, Washington, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 13 Jan 2002 | Cessna 150G | Ilwaco, Washington, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 8 Jan 2002 | Hughes 369E | Grand Coulee, Washington, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 2 May 2002 | American Champion (Acac) 8KCAB | Davenport, Washington, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 13 Jun 2002 | Cessna 172K | Clarkston, Washington, United States | Huck, Barry P. | No injuries | - |
| 18 Mar 2002 | Cessna 152 | NAS Whidbey, Washington, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |