Haring Clay RV8A N202HW

Summary

On 10 October 2007 at about 21:15 local time, a Haring Clay RV8A registered N202HW, operated by Andrew M. Bjorn, was involved in an accident near Brigham City, Utah, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 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

10 October 2007 at 21:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Brigham City, Utah, United States

Coordinates

41.4686, -112.4453

Aircraft

Haring Clay RV8A

Registration

N202HW

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Andrew M. Bjorn

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Newberg → Ogden

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA08LA007

2 people had minor injuries.

Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculations. Factors include an inaccurate fuel quantity measuring system, and soft terrain encountered during the landing roll.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

When the pilot was about fifty miles from the destination airport, with the fuel gauge indicating about 20 gallons of fuel remaining, the experimental airplane's engine lost all power. The pilot ultimately made a power-off forced landing in open terrain, and the airplane nosed over when its nose gear dug into the soft terrain. The investigation determined that there was no evidence of any fuel in the airplane's fuel system, and no evidence of fuel spillage or leakage at the scene. There also was no evidence of stains on the airplane consistent with in-flight fuel system leakage. A post-accident inspection of the airplane and its fuel system found no anomalies or evidence of leakage. The pilot, who had planned his flight using the "recommended power settings for cruise flight" of eight to nine gallons per hour, did not take into account the fuel burn for his initial climb of over 11,000 feet. In addition to that climb, the pilot had to climb back to 11,500 feet mean sea level (msl) after twice descending to lower altitudes in order to maintain visual meteorological conditions (once to 9,500 feet msl, and once to 7,500 feet msl). In the section of the NTSB form 6120.1/2 where the operator/owner was provided the opportunity to indicate how this accident could have been prevented, the pilot stated, "Installation of Fuel Burn Rate instrumentation."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.