Beechcraft 35-C33A N4833J

Summary

On 29 March 2008 at about 13:05 local time, a Beechcraft 35-C33A registered N4833J, operated by Donald Carter, was involved in an accident near Prescott, Arizona, 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

29 March 2008 at 13:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Prescott, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Ernest A. Love Field Airport (PRC)

Coordinates

34.6575, -112.4214

Aircraft

Beechcraft 35-C33A

Registration

N4833J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Donald Carter

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Prescott → Mesa

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA08CA099

Nobody was injured.

Fuel starvation due to the pilot's improper preflight and failure to select a tank containing fuel before takeoff.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was departing on an early morning flight and said that he performed his preflight and pretakeoff checklists. During the takeoff roll, he realized that he had forgotten to switch the fuel tank from the left tank (containing less than 1 gallon of fuel) to the right tank (containing about 35 gallons of fuel). The pilot switched the fuel tank selector from the left tank to the right tank during the takeoff roll, and during the initial climb, the engine sputtered and lost power. The pilot force-landed the airplane off the end of the runway. During the forced landing, the airplane collided with a fence post and incurred substantial damage to the left wing. Following the accident, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the fuel transfer system on the airplane and successfully test ran the engine. No mechanical anomalies were identified.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.