Beechcraft 35-B33 N5714K

Summary

On 14 March 2023 at about 14:06 local time, a Beechcraft 35-B33 registered N5714K, operated by Honour Aviation LLC, was involved in an accident near Scottsmoor, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 March 2023 at 14:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Scottsmoor, Florida, United States

Coordinates

28.7667, -80.8617

Aircraft

Beechcraft 35-B33

Registration

N5714K

Category

Airplane

Year built

1964

Engines

1

Operator

Honour Aviation LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Titusville → New Smyrna Beach

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA23LA151

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot’s inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was flying to an airport that was about 33 nautical miles away from the departure airport, and after takeoff climbed to an altitude of 2,000 ft before descending to 1,500 ft. About 8 minutes into the flight the airplane’s engine "coughed and stopped running." In response, the pilot switched the fuel selector to the other tank, turned on the boost pump and wingtip fuel tank pumps, and attempted to restart the engine, but was unsuccessful. He then returned the fuel selector back to the original tank and made another attempt to restart the engine, but that effort was similarly unsuccessful. The pilot then selected a field and performed a forced landing. During the landing the airplane struck a tree, seriously injuring the pilot and substantially damaging the fuselage and left wing. A Federal Aviation Administration Inspector examined the airplane at the accident site and reported that he found the fuel selector on the right tank position and that both the right main and wingtip fuel tanks were empty. He found a small amount of fuel in the left main fuel tank (later determined to be about 2 gallons) and no fuel in the left wingtip fuel tank. The inspector otherwise found no evidence of fuel leakage at the accident site. A post recovery examination of the wreckage also found that there was no fuel in the fuel pump or fuel injector lines. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane, and in a postaccident telephone interview stated that the airplane, "…just didn’t have enough fuel."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.