Cessna T310R N5005J

Summary

On 4 September 2004 at about 16:00 local time, a Cessna T310R registered N5005J, operated by Maurice H. Dowding, was involved in an accident near Marshall, Minnesota, United States. 5 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

4 September 2004 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Marshall, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

44.6500, -95.3803

Aircraft

Cessna T310R

Registration

N5005J

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Maurice H. Dowding

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Charlotte → Watertown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI04CA252

Nobody was injured.

The pilot rated passenger selecting an improper fuel selector position, and the pilot in command not verifying the fuel selector position which resulted in fuel starvation. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to feather the right engine propeller during the emergency, the unsuitable terrain encountered during the landing, and the crop.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial damage during a forced landing following a loss of engine power during cruise flight. The pilot stated in a telephone interview that during the flight, a pilot-rated passenger was handling radio communications and also handling some flying duties. He stated that he believes that the pilot-rated passenger inadvertently switched the fuel selectors so that both engines were using fuel from the right main fuel tank. He said that he believes that this occurred when the pilot-rated passenger was attempting to switch the fuel tanks from the auxiliary fuel tanks back to the main fuel tanks. He stated that later in the flight both engines stopped producing power. The pilot stated that he switched fuel tanks and was able to re-start the left engine, but could not get the right engine to restart. He said that he was unable to maintain altitude and elected to land on a gravel road. The pilot said that the road was narrow and the left landing gear went off of the road. The airplane subsequently went off of the left side of the road and into a bean field. The pilot stated that during the attempts to restart the right engine, the propeller was not placed in the feather position. He stated that he was the pilot in command of the flight and that he was seated in the left seat of the airplane. The pilot did not report any malfunction of the airplane or it's systems.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.