Sea Ray LSX N17TS

Summary

On 23 October 2022 at about 18:00 local time, a Sea Ray LSX registered N17TS, operated by Boat Plane LLC, was involved in an accident near Lago Vista, 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

23 October 2022 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Lago Vista, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Lago Vista Tx - Rusty Allen (RYW)

Coordinates

30.4602, -97.9883

Aircraft

Sea Ray LSX

Registration

N17TS

Category

Airplane

Year built

2013

Engines

1

Operator

Boat Plane LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Reklaw → Lago Vista

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA018

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s inadequate fuel planning and improper in-flight decision making which resulted in a low fuel status and a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While on a final approach for the runway, the pilot reported that the engine sputtered momentarily and then stopped running. The pilot attempted to restart the engine but was unsuccessful. Unable to make it to the runway, he performed a forced landing into dense trees and the airplane collided with terrain. The fuselage and left wing sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that after the accident he drained about 3 gallons of fuel from the fuel tank. However, the airplane was not examined until three days after the accident occurred, so this could not be verified. Three gallons of fuel in the tank would have placed the fuel just above the fuel inlet on the fuel tank. The flight time for the flight was estimated over 3 hours and 30 minutes, not including a flight the day before the accident. The airplane would have consumed over 17.5 gallons of fuel from the estimated 25-gallon fuel tank on the day of the accident based on an estimated fuel burn rate of 5 gallons per hour. After the accident, fuel was added, and the engine started without hesitation and ran at various power settings without any anomalies. It is likely that the low fuel state unported the fuel from the fuel inlet which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.