Seabase (Avid) MAGNUM N1966G

Summary

On 9 October 2003 at about 23:00 local time, a Seabase (Avid) MAGNUM registered N1966G, operated by Rick Lynn, was involved in an accident near Olney, Montana, 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

9 October 2003 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Olney, Montana, United States

Coordinates

48.5633, -114.5783

Aircraft

Seabase (Avid) MAGNUM

Registration

N1966G

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Rick Lynn

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kalispell → Eureka

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04LA004

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to adequately preflight the aircraft to verify the fuel quantity, resulting in fuel exhaustion and the loss of engine power during cruise flight. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to refuel the aircraft and the soft terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he had just picked up the aircraft at the completion of some maintenance work and was returning to his home base. Prior to departure, the pilot preflighted the aircraft, but did not pull the fuel caps to visually check fuel quantity, instead the pilot checked the caramel colored sight glass in the cockpit, which when the fuel tanks are full, the sight window looks the same as when empty. The pilot stated that he assumed that the aircraft had been fueled, however, it had not during its stay for maintenance. After departure, and while in cruise at 4,500 feet above sea level, the engine abruptly stopped operating. Upon determining that the automobile traffic on a nearby highway was too dense to risk a landing he selected a series of fields just east of the highway. Two fences sectioned the fields across the intended landing path, and the surface of the fields was soft and mushy. During the landing roll, the nose dug in, the nose landing gear collapsed and the aircraft nosed over. A Federal Aviation Administration Inspector examined the aircraft the day following the accident and found no gas within the fuel tanks or the fuel strainer.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.