Piper PA-28-181 N6294C

Summary

On 15 June 2005 at about 05:30 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N6294C, operated by Kansas City Aviation Center, was involved in an accident near Raymore, 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

15 June 2005 at 05:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Raymore, Missouri, United States

Coordinates

38.8353, -94.4283

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N6294C

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Kansas City Aviation Center

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pinckneyville → Olathe

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CHI05CA142

Nobody was injured.

The loss of total engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's inadequate preflight. A factor was the unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing.

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 after a loss of engine power. The pilot reported that the projected flight time was "expected to be 2 hours and 36 minutes, and the fuel on board was planned at 5 hours 30 minutes, with a 2 hour reserve." When he was about 25 nm from his destination airport, he started his descent from 4,500 feet mean sea level (msl) to 2,000 feet msl. He reported that he checked the fuel gauges and they indicated that the fuel was "well over half full." When he was about 12 nm from the airport, the engine lost power over a populated area. He executed a forced landing to an area that did not have lights. The airplane landed upright in a muddy field after skidding about 200-300 feet. About one cup of fuel was drained from each wing tank sump and about a spoonful of fuel from the gascolator during the examination of the airplane. There was no evidence of a fuel leak anywhere on the airplane. The engine was rotated and thumb compression was observed on all cylinders, and spark was observed on all spark plugs. The pilot rented the airplane from a fixed base operator on June 10, 2005. The airplane was dispatched with the fuel tanks topped off with 48 gallons of fuel. The pilot reported that he flew nonstop to an airport located 246 nautical miles away. The pilot reported that on June 14, 2005, he flew to an airport that was 23 nautical miles away where he purchased 20.0 gallons of fuel. The pilot then flew back to the same airport 23 nautical miles away before departing on the accident flight later that night. The tachometer indicated the airplane had operated 6.2 hours, and the Hobbs meter indicated the airplane had flown 6.0 hours since the airplane was dispatched to the pilot on June 10th. The Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH) indicated that the average fuel burn at 75 percent power with the engine properly leaned was about 10.5 gallons per hour. The average fuel burn for the accident airplane during the 6.0 hours (Hobbs time) it had been rented to the pilot was about 11.3 gallons per hour.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.