Piper PA-24-250 N5697P

Summary

On 3 December 2006 at about 21:45 local time, a Piper PA-24-250 registered N5697P was involved in an accident near Jacksboro, Texas, 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.

Date

3 December 2006 at 21:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Jacksboro, Texas, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-250

Registration

N5697P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

North Las Vegas → Bridgeport

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW07CA034

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper fuel calculations, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. A factor was the unsuitable terrain encountered during the emergency landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 385-hour private pilot reported that the fuel tanks on the single engine airplane were topped off with 90 gallons of aviation fuel for the 874.6 nautical mile cross country flight that originated at 0900. At 1530, while the airplane was in cruise flight about 10 minutes from his intended destination, the engine lost power. The pilot elected to execute a forced landing to a rough, mesquite covered field. The airplane sustained structural damage during the forced landing; however, the pilot and his passenger were able to egress from the airplane unassisted. The FAA inspector who traveled to the accident site discovered that the fuel cells were empty. The pilot added that he "ran out of fuel" and he had relied on a fuel computer that indicated there was 14 gallons (1.1 hours) of fuel remaining when the engine lost power. He added that the engine power loss could have been prevented if he had used a fuel burn rate of 13 gallons per hour and had restricted his endurance to a maximum of 6 hours.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.