Piper PA-30 N7654Y

Summary

On 11 January 2005 at about 00:37 local time, a Piper PA-30 registered N7654Y, operated by Archie Theadore Simpson, was involved in an accident near Charleston, South Carolina, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 January 2005 at 00:37

Classification

Accident

Location

Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Charleston Intern Airport (CHS)

Coordinates

32.8953, -80.0406

Aircraft

Piper PA-30

Registration

N7654Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Archie Theadore Simpson

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Charleston → Summerville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

ATL05FA043

1 person died.

The pilot's inadequate preflight and mismanagement of the fuel supply, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Forty seconds after takeoff, the pilot radioed that he had an emergency and was banking the airplane hard to the left to return to runway 21. Controllers informed the pilot that runway 21 was not cleared and that he could land on runway 33. The airplane collided with the ground between runways 21 and 33. Examination of the aircraft revealed the left hand fuel selector was found selected to the main tank position and approximately one-quart of fuel was drained from this tank. Three gallons are considered unusable. The right hand fuel selector was found selected to the auxiliary fuel tank position. At least five gallons of fuel was found in that tank. Neither the left main nor the right auxiliary tanks were breached. The airplane was fitted with tip tanks installed under a Supplemental Type Certificate. The tip tank switches located on the instrument panel, were found in the auxiliary or off position. The tip tanks were found breached and fire damaged. The airplane's flight manual calls for takeoff and landing to be made on the main fuel tanks only. The post-accident examination of the airframe and subsystems failed to disclose any mechanical problems or component failures.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.