Fuel Exhaustion & Starvation · NTSB CEN10LA430
PIPER PA-28-151 — Spearfish, SD
| Date | July 24, 2010 |
| Location | Spearfish, SD |
| Aircraft | PIPER PA-28-151 |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Approach-VFR go-around Loss of engine power (total) |
| Pilot age | 54 |
| Pilot total time | 210 hrs · Low time |
| Time in type | 210 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level - C
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action performance-Pilot - C
What happened
The pilot reported that the airplane’s airspeed was 70 mph when it was crossing the runway threshold, which was 10 mph slower than he normally landed the airplane. He decided to execute a go-around and flew the length of the runway before making the crosswind turn. When he turned left onto the downwind leg, the engine stopped producing power and he executed a forced landing to a field. He reported that he did not see a tree in the field and the right wing impacted the tree after the airplane touched down. Postaccident inspection of the left fuel tank revealed that it was full of fuel. There was no evidence of fuel in the right wing’s fuel tank. The pilot reported that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure of the airplane and that he did not switch the fuel tanks prior to landing, causing the engine to lose power due to fuel starvation.