Beechcraft 19 N18925

Summary

On 8 May 2017 at about 15:00 local time, a Beechcraft 19 registered N18925, operated by Hyde Flight School, was involved in an accident near Weatherford, Texas, 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

8 May 2017 at 15:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Weatherford, Texas, United States

Coordinates

32.8299, -97.7003

Aircraft

Beechcraft 19

Registration

N18925

Category

Airplane

Year built

1977

Operator

Hyde Flight School

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Granbury → Weatherford

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN17LA179

2 people had minor injuries.

The flight instructor’s inadequate in-flight fuel management, which resulted 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 flight instructor stated that a preflight visual inspection of the airplane's fuel tanks indicated that the fuel in each tank was just above the tabs, which corresponded to 30 total gallons of fuel on board; he added that a pretakeoff engine run up revealed no anomalies. He and the student pilot then departed on the instructional flight and flew for about 30 minutes using fuel from the left fuel tank before switching to the right tank. The student reported that, when they switched fuel tanks, the left tank gauge indicated "just above half" full, and the right tank gauge indicated "slightly higher" than half full. Shortly thereafter, the student activated the carburetor heat and reduced engine power to idle to perform a simulated engine failure and forced landing; however, when the student applied the throttle at the conclusion of the simulation, engine power did not increase. The flight instructor performed a forced landing, during which the airplane impacted a tree. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel selector was positioned to the left fuel tank, which was undamaged and contained no fuel. The right fuel tank contained about 14 gallons of fuel. The fuel lines from the engine firewall to the carburetor did not contain fuel. The fuel quantity transmitters were not tested, and their accuracy was not determined. No mechanical anomalies were noted that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane, and the loss of engine power is consistent with fuel starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.