Piper PA-32-300 N308DF

Summary

On 4 September 2012 at about 15:50 local time, a Piper PA-32-300 registered N308DF, operated by Cangiano Lorene D, was involved in an accident near Lancaster, California, 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

4 September 2012 at 15:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Lancaster, California, United States

Nearest airport

William J Fox (WJF)

Coordinates

34.7458, -118.2200

Aircraft

Piper PA-32-300

Registration

N308DF

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Cangiano Lorene D

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lancaster → Agua Dulce

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR12CA400

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot’s inadvertent selection of an empty fuel tank.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot was flying solo back to her home airport after completing a lesson with a flight instructor. Before the flight instructor exited the airplane, the student pilot verified that the right main fuel tank was selected and full. However, as the airplane climbed through about 700 feet above ground level, the engine began to sputter. The student pilot checked the ignition switch and turned on the boost pump. She elected to land straight ahead in an empty field rather than try to turn back to the runway and made a soft field, power-off landing. During the landing roll, the right main landing gear began to sink into a furrow. The airplane’s nose gear collapsed, resulting in damage to the firewall. The student stated that the fuel selector valve had been problematic due to the lightness of the stop between the right main and the right wing tip positions. On previous occasions, she had noticed that it could be inadvertently moved from the right main to the tip, and had developed a method of planting her hand before selecting the right main so as to prevent the selector from moving through the stop to the right tip. After the accident, she verified that the fuel selector was in the right tip tank position, and that tank was empty.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.