PIPER PA28 — Summersville, MO

What happened

The pilot was conducting a multileg cross-country flight and had last refueled the airplane with 26.98 gallons of fuel about 375 miles from the accident location and about 450 miles from the destination airport. After departure from the last fuel stop, the pilot continued on the final leg of the flight in dark night conditions. Radar data consistent with the accident flight showed the airplane on course about 5,000 ft mean sea level for about 4 hours. Just before the end of the radar track, the airplane began descending, then turned north and then southeast. The airplane impacted trees and terrain. The right wing separated and the fuselage was buckled.

The wreckage of the airplane was found on wooded, hilly terrain the next morning by a motorist on a nearby road. The airplane impacted the trees and terrain in an attitude, consistent with a forced landing. The dark night conditions likely would have made it difficult for the pilot to see the trees during the landing.

Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the two fuel tanks were not compromised; the left fuel tank was empty, and the right fuel tank contained only a minimal amount of fuel. Only a trace amount of fuel was found in the fuel lines and fuel pump. The damage to the propeller blades was consistent with little or no engine power at the time of impact. No preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine were noted during the examination, although the emergency locator transmitter was found to be inoperable.

The airplane averaged about 94 knots ground speed during the flight, and the entire flight from the fuel stop to the destination airport should have taken about 4 hours 48 minutes at that speed. Although the extent of the pilot’s preflight fuel planning and in-flight fuel monitoring could not be determined, with a fuel burn rate of 10 gallons per hour, there was not enough fuel to complete the planned flight with the required 45-minute night flight fuel reserve. Thus, the pilot’s preflight fuel planning was likely inadequate, and the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion.

Although the emergency locator transmitter did not activate, there was insufficient information from which to determine whether or how this affected survivability in this accident.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.