Fuel Exhaustion & Starvation · NTSB CEN12FA021
PIPER PA-28-140 — Guthrie, OK
| Date | October 16, 2011 |
| Location | Guthrie, OK |
| Aircraft | PIPER PA-28-140 |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Enroute-descent Loss of engine power (total) |
| Pilot age | 62 |
| Pilot total time | 884 hrs · Building experience |
| Time in type | 120 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1, 1 serious |
Probable cause
The pilot’s inadequate fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot - C
- Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level - C
What happened
The airplane was fueled to capacity and flew for 3 hours and 15 minutes to its destination, where it was not refueled. Two days later, the airplane flew for 3 additional hours. During that flight, a passenger said that he heard the pilot say that they were low on fuel. Shortly thereafter, the engine lost power and the airplane collided with power lines and impacted a storage shed in a residential area. The airplane was equipped with two 25-gallon fuel tanks (50 gallons total, of which 48 gallons were useable). The airplane had been aloft for about 6 hours, 13 minutes. Depending on the power setting, the airplane would have burned between 38 and 52 gallons for the two flights.