Dassault MIRAGE F1 CR N633AX

Summary

On 10 February 2022 at about 18:05 local time, a Dassault MIRAGE F1 CR registered N633AX, operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company LLC, was involved in an accident near Glendale, Arizona, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 February 2022 at 18:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Glendale, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Luke Afb (LUF)

Coordinates

33.7087, -112.6265

Aircraft

Dassault MIRAGE F1 CR

Registration

N633AX

Category

Airplane

Year built

1985

Engines

1

Operator

Airborne Tactical Advantage Company LLC

Operating rule

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Glendale → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22FA094

1 person had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as result of the failure of maintenance personnel to ensure the airplane was serviced with the correct amount of fuel, the failure of maintenance personnel and the pilot to adequately check the airplane’s paperwork to ensure the correct amount of fuel was present for the flight, and the failure of the pilot to adequately monitor the airplane’s fuel status during the flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

A turbo-jet airplane was being operated as a public-use aircraft in support of the United States Air Force’s simulated combat flight training at the time of the accident. The airplane took off and proceeded to the Military Operating Area (MOA) and, near the completion of the flight the pilot reported a discrepancy between the two fuel quantity indications in the cockpit. Shortly thereafter, the pilot headed back to the airport once the airplane reached its briefed minimum fuel status. While en route to the airport, the pilot reported a loss of fuel pressure and shortly afterward the engine flamed out. The pilot attempted to restart the engine but was unsuccessful. When the pilot determined that he could not make the runway at his destination, he turned toward an uninhabited area and successfully ejected from the airplane. Subsequently, the airplane impacted terrain. Postaccident interviews revealed that the airplane was not fueled with the correct amount of fuel for the flight by maintenance personnel before the flight. Although the refueling forms accurately reflected the shorted amount of fuel, the error was not detected by maintenance personnel or the pilot before the airplane took off. During the flight, the pilot failed to notice that his fuel load was incorrect. The pilot relied on a fuel remaining totalizer that had been manually set to the expected full fuel load, not to the actual fuel load, and did not appropriately reference the individual fuel quantity tapes. Postaccident examination of the airplane wreckage revealed that the airplane’s fuel tanks had loose sealant globules inside the main feeder fuel tanks and an additional piece of Foreign Object Debris (FOD) present. Additionally, the operator discovered that several of their F-1 airplanes were found with varies type of FOD in the fuel tanks, including loose pieces of fuel tank sealant, which led to fuel anomalies including issues that caused false full tank fuel indications during refueling. Once the FOD was removed, the airplanes’ fuel system anomalies that were experienced were virtually eliminated. It is possible that the FOD caused anomalies during refueling of the accident airplane and presented a false full tank indication, which contributed to the airplane not being serviced to the correct fuel load.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.