Piper PA-28-180 N5264L

Summary

On 14 March 2003 at about 23:30 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N5264L was involved in an accident near Bonham, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 March 2003 at 23:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Bonham, Texas, United States

Coordinates

33.6117, -96.1792

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N5264L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Meridian → Sherman

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03LA113

1 person was seriously injured.

The loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as result of the unapproved fuel selector valve handle installed on the aircraft by an unknown person. 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

The airplane was painted at a maintenance facility prior to being delivered to its new owner. A private pilot was contacted by the maintenance facility to ferry the airplane. The 90-hour pilot reported that she flew on the right tank for the first 30 minutes of the flight, changing the fuel selector every hour thereafter. The pilot added that to switch the fuel selector, she had to move her left leg and look at the fuel selector every time she switched tanks since she was unable to feel the detent to make sure the selector was in the proper position. About 10 minutes after leveling-off at 3,000 feet, while 25-nautical miles from her next refueling stop, the pilot reported a rough running engine, followed by a complete loss of engine power. The airplane was too low to make the field and the airplane collided with matured trees just short of the selected field. The engine was removed from the airframe and after installing a test propeller, the engine was successfully ran to 2,400 RPMs. Further examination of the fuel system revealed that the fuel selector placard (Piper P/N 63832) was the correct type for this airplane; however, the pointer (handle) was not the correct type for this model aircraft. The installed pointer(handle) was to be used on later models of the airplane (s/n 28-7105001 and up). The installed pointer (handle) was found to have the fuel valve shaft indexed differently than the correct pointer (Piper P/N 63949) for this model, and the pointer would not properly align with the placard. An unknown installer appeared to have re-drilled the holes in the placard and cocked it about 45 degrees so the pointer would align with the placard and the detents in the valve.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.