Cirrus SR22 N220TX

Summary

On 29 June 2009 at about 15:30 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N220TX, operated by Planesmart Aviation LLC, was involved in an accident near Bastrop, Texas, 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

29 June 2009 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Bastrop, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

None

Coordinates

30.1894, -97.5064

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N220TX

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Planesmart Aviation LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Houston → Austin

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN09LA400

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's failure to properly verify the fuel load prior to departure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The certificated airline transport pilot said he performed a pre-flight inspection and verified the oil and fuel quantities before departing. However, he was unable to visually verify the amount in the fuel tanks and instead referenced what was last manually programmed into the electronic fuel totalizer on the multi-function display, which was 42 gallons. The pilot crosschecked this amount with the fuel guages and there was a discrepancy, so he added 10 gallons of fuel to each tank. He departed with what he thought was 62 total gallons. As the pilot approached his destination, the fuel annunciator light illuminated. Shortly after this the right tank was "exhausted." He switched to the left tank, and noted 9 gallons remaining. Shortly after, the fuel annunciator illuminated again, and the engine lost total power. He made a forced landing on a narrow road and struck a barbed wire fence which substantially damaged both wings. The fuel tanks and associated plumbing were intact. When power was applied to the airplane, the left fuel guage indicated approximately 2-3 gallons and the right guage indicated 0 gallons. Data downloaded from the primary flight display unit, remote data module, and the multi-function display unit card, along with fueling records, revealed that the airplane departed with approximately 38.2 gallons and not 62 gallons. There would have been approximately 2.6 gallons total on board at the time the engine stopped producing power, which is consistent with the amount of fuel observed on the guages at the accident site.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.