Beechcraft A36TC N6672X

Summary

On 28 July 2012 at about 16:30 local time, a Beechcraft A36TC registered N6672X, operated by Papa Alfa Co LLC, was involved in an accident near Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. 3 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

28 July 2012 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Fayettevile Regional (FAY)

Coordinates

34.9881, -78.8747

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36TC

Registration

N6672X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Papa Alfa Co LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hatteras → Fayetteville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA12LA489

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While conducting a preflight inspection, the pilot observed that the right wing fuel tank was leaking at the sump on the underside of the wing. He also noted that there was no fuel in the right wing tank; however, the left wing tank contained about 33 gallons. The pilot then departed on a cross-country flight with the intention of landing at an intermediate airport that had appropriate maintenance services to have the fuel sump inspected. Upon reaching the intermediate airport, the pilot elected to continue to his original destination airport instead. While on final approach for landing at the destination airport, the engine experienced a total loss of power, and the pilot performed a forced landing to a field just short of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that both left and right wing fuel tanks were intact and absent of fuel; however, fuel quantity indicators for the tanks read 1/8 and 1/4 full, respectively. Postaccident fuel consumption calculations indicated that the airplane should have consumed about 24 gallons of fuel during the accident flight, thus it is possible that there was less fuel than the pilot observed in the left tank before departure. During a test run after fuel was supplied, the engine started on the first attempt, and ran smoothly and continuously through all power settings with no anomalies observed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.