Cessna T207 N207AB

Summary

On 27 June 2014 at about 16:19 local time, a Cessna T207 registered N207AB, operated by Surdex Corporation, was involved in an accident near Indianapolis, Indiana, 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

27 June 2014 at 16:19

Classification

Accident

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

Indianapolis International (KIND)

Coordinates

39.7308, -86.2891

Aircraft

Cessna T207

Registration

N207AB

Category

Airplane

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Surdex Corporation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Indianapolis → Indianapolis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN14LA327

2 people had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, which resulted from the pilot's failure to monitor the fuel level and switch tanks in a timely fashion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane took off for an aerial mapping flight fully fueled (80 gallons of total fuel, 76 gallons of which were usable). After about 3.9 hours of flight, he returned to the airport to land. When the airplane was 1.5 miles from the runway, the engine lost power. The pilot reported that he performed the engine failure checklist (restart procedure) items from memory but was unable to reestablish power. The airplane cleared the airport perimeter fence but impacted terrain short of the runway. During postaccident examination, no fuel was found in the left tank, fuel was found in the right tank, and the fuel selector was found positioned to the right tank. Other than the empty left tank, the examination revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction or abnormality that would have precluded normal engine operation. Therefore, it is likely that the fuel selector was positioned to the left tank and that the engine lost power due to fuel starvation when this tank ran dry. The pilot likely switched the fuel selector to the right tank during his unsuccessful attempt to restart the engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.