Beechcraft V35A N7893R

Summary

On 22 October 2022 at about 22:17 local time, a Beechcraft V35A registered N7893R was involved in an accident near Shellman Bluff, Georgia, 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

22 October 2022 at 22:17

Classification

Accident

Location

Shellman Bluff, Georgia, United States

Coordinates

32.2500, -81.4167

Aircraft

Beechcraft V35A

Registration

N7893R

Category

Airplane

Year built

1969

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Shellman Bluff → Shellman Bluff

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA23LA035

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed for a local flight to practice instrument approaches, and after completing two approaches to a nearby airport, was returning to the departure airport. While maneuvering to enter the airport traffic pattern the engine suddenly lost power completely. The pilot attempted to troubleshoot the loss of engine power by switching fuel tanks and adjusting the engine controls, but was not successful. He subsequently ditched the airplane into a river and the airframe was substantially damaged during the landing. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the intact fuel tanks each contained a quantity of fuel less than their unusable capacity. Additionally, downstream components of the fuel system contained only trace amounts of fuel. Examination of the engine and airframe revealed no evidence of any mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation. Data recovered from an engine data monitor revealed that, about 1 hour into the flight, the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) of all the engine’s cylinders suddenly increased before then rapidly decreasing, consistent with the sudden loss of engine power described by the pilot. The sudden increase of EGT that preceded the rapid decrease is consistent with a leaning of the engine’s fuel mixture (consistent with what would occur following an interruption or exhaustion of the available fuel supply). Given the lack of fuel found during the postaccident examinations of the airplane, and based on the engine monitor data, it is likely that the pilot misjudged the amount of fuel onboard the airplane before departing on the accident flight, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.