Puhl GENESIS N51XT

Summary

On 25 August 2002 at about 20:00 local time, a Puhl GENESIS registered N51XT was involved in an accident near Petersburg, West Virginia, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 August 2002 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Petersburg, West Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Grant County Airport (W99)

Coordinates

38.9942, -79.1442

Aircraft

Puhl GENESIS

Registration

N51XT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mansfield → Petersburg

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD02LA089

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed after a loss of engine power, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin. Factors included the pilot's inadequate preflight planning which resulted in fuel exhaustion, and the transmission wires in the pilot's glide path.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was approaching an airport with its engine running, when the engine suddenly stopped, then ran, and finally stopped again. The airplane glided, and just cleared transmission wires when the nose "dropped," and the airplane descended vertically into a cornfield. There was no evidence of fuel spillage at the scene, and the only fuel found was a small amount in the auxiliary fuel tank. The private pilot/owner of the airplane had recently bought it, and before the accident flight, had not previously not flown it or any other airplanes of the same make.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.