Interavia E-3 N4426X

Summary

On 9 July 2000 at about 22:30 local time, a Interavia E-3 registered N4426X was involved in an accident near Watsonville, California, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 July 2000 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Watsonville, California, United States

Coordinates

36.9167, -121.8333

Aircraft

Interavia E-3

Registration

N4426X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Watsonville → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX00LA257

1 person had minor injuries.

the total loss of engine power due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculations, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was flying his experimental single engine airplane after performing maintenance, when the engine lost power after 40 minutes of operation. According to the pilot's written statement, he "checked and measured" the gas in the fuel tanks after performing maintenance on the airplane. He calculated that he had 20 gallons of fuel on board, or 40 minutes of endurance at 100 percent power or 1 hour of endurance at 70 percent power. He started the engine at 1450 and departed at 1500. He reported that he set the power at 70 percent for the flight. The engine quit as the pilot was turning back toward the airport. He checked the fuel gauges and reported that they indicated 5 gallons in each fuel tank. He pumped the fuel pump and the engine started, ran for approximately 30 seconds, and lost power again. The pilot reported that he could not restart the engine. He elected to land in a cow pasture on the side of mountainous terrain. While attempting to land over a fence and trees, the left wing touched down, slewing the plane off course. The left main landing gear separated from the left wing and the wing sustained structural damage. In his statement, the pilot noted that he should have operated the airplane by fuel time, not the gauges.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.