Cessna 210 N9633T

Summary

On 11 November 2012 at about 22:40 local time, a Cessna 210 registered N9633T, operated by William E Bowling, was involved in an accident near Jasper, Georgia, 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

11 November 2012 at 22:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Jasper, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Pickens County (JZP)

Coordinates

34.4653, -84.4619

Aircraft

Cessna 210

Registration

N9633T

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

William E Bowling

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Vero Beach → Sparta

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

ERA13LA053

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the pilot’s prolonged sideslip maneuvers during the descent to landing. Contributing to the accident was the airplane’s lack of a required placard advising pilots to avoid lengthy sideslip maneuvers with fuel tanks less than 1/2 full.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a cross-country flight, the pilot elected to refuel at an intermediate airport. The pilot switched the fuel selector from the right tank to the left (which he reported contained fuel quantities of 1/4 tank and between 1/3 and 1/2 tank, respectively, according to the fuel gauges), and initiated a descent. The pilot circled the airplane over the airport until he reached traffic pattern altitude and then maneuvered for landing. The pilot stated that due to crosswind conditions at the airport, he had to “crab and slip the airplane” to maintain the proper final approach course. When the airplane was about 1 mile from the runway threshold, the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot was unsuccessful in his attempts to restart the engine and conducted a forced landing to a road. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right fuel tank contained about 14 gallons of fuel, and the left tank contained about 9 gallons. A postaccident test run of the engine revealed no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. A service letter issued by the manufacturer about 47 years before the accident and a subsequent airworthiness directive issued by the Federal Aviation Administration required the installation of a placard on the instrument panel directly under the fuel quantity indicators which stated, “Avoid landing approaches in red arc and over 30 second slips under 1/2 tank.” The placard was not installed on the accident airplane at the time of the accident. Given the airplane’s fuel state at the time of the accident and the absence of mechanical malfunctions in postaccident examinations, it is likely that, while the pilot was descending and maneuvering for landing using a prolonged sideslip, the fuel tank outlet became unported, and that the subsequent lack of fuel flow resulted in a loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.