Piper PA-28-181 N2953Y

Summary

On 17 July 1998 at about 02:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N2953Y was involved in an accident near Springfield, Missouri, United States. One person was 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

17 July 1998 at 02:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Springfield, Missouri, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N2953Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Austin → Springfield

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CHI98LA258

Nobody was injured.

the pilot in command's inadequate preflight planning/preparation and inaccurate fuel consumption calculations that caused the aircraft's fuel supply to be exceeded. Factors to the accident were the dark light condition and the rough/uneven terrain condition.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that while he was in contact with approach control, the engine quit suddenly, he switched tanks, and the engine restarted without hesitation. The pilot notified approach control of his fuel situation and approach control communicated to the pilot that he was flying directly over the airport. The pilot stated that he still did not have visual contact with the airport. The engine quit, for the second time, and the pilot executed a forced landing into a field. The pilot stated that he used 3 notches of flaps, tried to keep the wings level, and was aware of some trees that were at the beginning of the field he had selected. The aircraft came to rest on some railroad tracks. Post accident investigation showed that the pilot had been flying for at least 4 hours and 4 minutes at the time of the first engine failure. The fuel tanks were drained, with 1.5 pints of fuel being drained from each wing tank. There was no evidence of a fuel spill at the accident site and the fuel tanks were not compromised during the forced landing. There were no other anomalies found with the aircraft, flight controls, or engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.