Beechcraft F33A N444VT

Summary

On 5 June 2016 at about 16:05 local time, a Beechcraft F33A registered N444VT was involved in an accident near Fairfield, New Jersey, United States. 2 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

5 June 2016 at 16:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Fairfield, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Essex County (CDW)

Coordinates

40.8753, -74.2814

Aircraft

Beechcraft F33A

Registration

N444VT

Category

Airplane

Year built

1985

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bedford → Caldwell

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA16CA203

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to adequately manage the available fuel supply, resulting in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the single-engine airplane stated that he departed on a cross country flight but did not visually check the amount of fuel in the main tanks before departure and relied on his fuel gauges, which indicated 2/3-full (left tank) and 1/2-full (right tank). Both wingtip fuel tanks were empty. The pilot departed with the fuel selector on the left main tank. He then switched over to the right main tank while en route, but noticed the needle on the fuel gauge was not moving as the flight progressed. The flight was uneventful and the pilot made an instrument approach into his destination airport; however, he had to execute a missed approach due to low clouds. During the missed approach procedure he entered visual conditions and asked air traffic control (ATC) if he could maintain visual conditions and circle to land. The pilot said that as he was turning crosswind the engine began to run rough and stopped producing power. He tried to re-start the engine twice as he prepared for a forced landing to a closer runway. The pilot did not have time to switch the fuel selector to the left tank and ended up striking trees and landing short of the runway threshold. A postaccident examination revealed substantial damage to the firewall and fuselage. The landing gear was also damaged. Neither the left nor right wing fuel tanks were breached. About 20 oz of fuel was drained from the right main tank and about 21 gallons of fuel were drained from the left main tank. Though the pilot said the right fuel gauge was not reading properly, he acknowledged that he should have monitored fuel burn rate over a given period of time versus relying on just the fuel gauge.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.