Ohlgren Brent E RV-6A N419B

Summary

On 1 September 2014 at about 22:40 local time, a Ohlgren Brent E RV-6A registered N419B, operated by Stone Jason M, was involved in an accident near Marshalltown, Iowa, 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 September 2014 at 22:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Marshalltown, Iowa, United States

Nearest airport

Marshalltown Municipal (LMIW)

Coordinates

42.0390, -92.9051

Aircraft

Ohlgren Brent E RV-6A

Registration

N419B

Category

Airplane

Year built

2001

Engines

1

Operator

Stone Jason M

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tea → Marshalltown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN14LA472

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's misjudgment of the amount of fuel onboard prior to flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said he visually checked and verified that the right wing fuel tank was just under half full and that the left wing fuel tank was just over half full prior to takeoff. As the airplane approached the destination, about 190 nm from the departure airport, the pilot decided to conduct a practice visual approach. Shortly after turning onto final approach, the engine lost power. After employing emergency procedures, the pilot was able to restore power and climbed the airplane to 3,100 feet. He then checked the fuel gauges, which both indicated one-eighth full. The engine then lost power a second time. The pilot made a forced landing in a bean field, and the airplane nosed over. During postaccident examination, no fuel sloshing could be heard when the wings were rocked; both wing fuel caps were then removed from the inverted airplane and no fuel leaked out. The airplane was righted, and when the master switch was turned on, the left fuel gauge was one needle-width above empty and the right fuel gauge indicated empty. The integrity of the fuel tanks appeared to be intact, and no fuel leaked from the tanks. No fuel was visible in either fuel tank. No fuel was recovered when the left and right wing fuel sump drains were removed. After adding fuel, the engine was started and ran at idle power until it was shut down.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.