Piper PA-23-150 N1082P

Summary

On 1 January 1996 at about 22:50 local time, a Piper PA-23-150 registered N1082P was involved in an accident near Silver Spring, Pennsylvania, United States. 2 people were 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

1 January 1996 at 22:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Silver Spring, Pennsylvania, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper PA-23-150

Registration

N1082P

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Poughkeepsie → Lynchburg

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

NYC96LA048

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power as a result of fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot rented a multiengine airplane to fly 70 hours during a 3 week period. The pilot and passenger departed, flew a 4.4 hour flight, and refueled with 73 gallons of fuel. The pilot then flew 2 legs that totaled 3.5 hours, and refueled the airplane with 68.9 gallons. Two days later the pilot departed on another leg that lasted 2 hours. After a brief stop, and no refueling, the pilot departed on the accident leg. About 1.5 hours after takeoff, during night IMC, the right engine lost power, followed by the left engine. The pilot received radar vectors to an airport during the emergency descent and did not feather either propeller. The airplane descended clear of the clouds and landed in an open field, 6 miles short of the airport. Examination of the wreckage revealed 3 quarts of fuel in the right wing tanks, and 1 quart of fuel in the left wing tanks. No fuel stains were noted on the fuselage, wings, or ground. The capacity of the airplane's main and auxiliary fuel tanks were measured and verified during the investigation. The engines were removed, test run, and ran normally. The fuel burn during the tests were consistent with the manual. Based upon the average fuel consumption of the previous legs, about 39 gallons of fuel were unaccounted for at the accident scene.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.