Beltram GLASAIR-TD N22VB

Summary

On 25 July 2003 at about 00:15 local time, a Beltram GLASAIR-TD registered N22VB was involved in an accident near London, Kentucky, 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

25 July 2003 at 00:15

Classification

Accident

Location

London, Kentucky, United States

Nearest airport

London-Corbin Airport (LOZ)

Coordinates

37.0836, -84.0675

Aircraft

Beltram GLASAIR-TD

Registration

N22VB

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

London → London

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC03LA165

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to follow published procedures, which resulted in fuel starvation during approach.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed runway 24 in an amateur built airplane, and circled the airport once. He then made an approach to runway 24, but was too high. The wind was calm, and the pilot decided to enter a downwind leg for runway 06. While on the downwind leg, the engine sputtered and quit. The pilot established a glide and turned toward runway 06, but the airplane impacted a berm about 75 feet prior to the runway. The airplane was not equipped with a main fuel tank flapper valve, which was designed to prevent unporting of fuel in the main tank. Therefore, the kit manufacturer had placed a warning in the builder manual that stated do not land or takeoff with less than 10 gallons of fuel. The notice was not in the pilot's flight manual, and he overlooked it prior to the accident flight. The pilot estimated that he had 8-10 gallons of fuel on the airplane when the engine lost all power. The pilot believed that the unporting caused the engine failure, and that the airplane did not experience any pre-impact mechanical malfunction.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.