Beechcraft H35 N5546D

Summary

On 1 July 2022 at about 20:40 local time, a Beechcraft H35 registered N5546D was involved in an accident near LaCrosse, Washington, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 July 2022 at 20:40

Classification

Accident

Location

LaCrosse, Washington, United States

Coordinates

46.7860, -117.9099

Aircraft

Beechcraft H35

Registration

N5546D

Category

Airplane

Year built

1957

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Colfax

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22LA247

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot’s failure to monitor and manage the fuel supply, 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 of the airplane reported that, he departed with a total of 50 gallons of fuel for a cross-country flight. After about 1.5 hours, as the airplane approached the destination airport, the fuel-injected engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot switched the fuel selector valve from the right main fuel tank to the left main fuel tank and attempted to restart the engine, to no avail. The airplane impacted upsloping terrain during the forced landing, which resulted in the engine separating from the firewall. Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have resulted in the loss of engine power. According to the manufacturer, the unusable fuel in each main fuel tank is 3 gallons. The fuel recovered from the right and left main tanks were about 2 and 4 gallons, respectively. A total of about 16.5 gallons was recovered from the main and auxiliary fuel tanks combined. It is likely that the pilot did not properly monitor the fuel supply during the cross-country flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.