Beechcraft A36 N1568Y

Summary

On 1 May 2013 at about 12:30 local time, a Beechcraft A36 registered N1568Y, operated by WV Aviation LLC, was involved in an accident near Ingalls, Indiana, 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

1 May 2013 at 12:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Ingalls, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

None

Coordinates

39.9533, -85.7867

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36

Registration

N1568Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

WV Aviation LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Clarksburg → Indianapolis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN13CA250

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed on a 1 hour 50 minute cross country flight with about 30 gallons of fuel in each wing tank (about 27 gallons usable fuel per side). The flight was uneventful until the pilot started a descent from 8,000 feet to 3,000 feet; the engine then made "two pops" and "quit." The pilot said the engine didn’t run rough; "it just stopped." He made several attempts to re-start the engine but was unsuccessful. The pilot declared an emergency and landed in a field. Upon landing, the nose gear dug into the dirt and separated from the airplane. The right wing rear spar fractured during the landing; however, both wing fuel tanks were undamaged. About 1 quart of fuel was drained from the left wing tank, and the right wing tank contained about 30 gallons of fuel. The pilot could not recall where the fuel selector was positioned at the time of the power loss. Examination of the engine and fuel system revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that the pilot was feeding fuel to the engine from the left wing tank and did not switch to the right wing tank before the engine lost power or during the attempted restart.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.