Beechcraft K35 N59MK

Summary

On 12 March 2024 at about 23:02 local time, a Beechcraft K35 registered N59MK was involved in an accident near Front Royal, Virginia, 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

12 March 2024 at 23:02

Classification

Accident

Location

Front Royal, Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Front Royal-Warren County (FRR)

Coordinates

38.9294, -78.2801

Aircraft

Beechcraft K35

Registration

N59MK

Category

Airplane

Year built

1959

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fredericksburg → Winchester

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA139

Nobody was injured.

A total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the pilot’s mismanagement of the airplane’s fuel supply.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting an extended duration aerial survey flight. He reported that he had experienced anomalies with the propeller controls and the No. 3 cylinder exhaust gas temperature (EGT) during the flight. After about 5 and ½ hours of flying, he became uncomfortable with the EGT values and chose to suspend the survey and land. He began to climb the airplane while enroute to the destination. During the climb, he attempted to switch the fuel selector from the right main to the left main fuel tank, and several minutes later, the engine began to stumble. He double-checked the fuel selector, noted that it was on an auxiliary tank, then moved it to the left main tank position. He reported that shortly thereafter the engine lost total power. He was unable to reach the destination airport and performed a forced landing to a field, during which the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was equipped with two bladder-type main fuel tanks, one per wing, each with a capacity of 25 gallons of which 3 gallons were unusable; and two bladder-type auxiliary fuel tanks, each with a 20-gallon capacity of which 1 gallon was unusable. The airplane was also equipped with fiberglass wingtip tanks. The pilot reported that he departed on the accident flight with all of the fuel tanks filled to their capacity. The main and auxiliary fuel tanks were not breached during the accident sequence, while the wingtip tanks remained attached to the wings but were both ruptured. Personnel who recovered the airplane from the accident site collected about 5 gallons of fuel from the right wing fuel tanks and less than 1 gallon of fuel from the left wing fuel tanks. A subsequent airframe inspection, engine test run, test of the oil transfer collar, and a propeller governor bench test were conducted, and all revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have resulted in a total loss of engine power. Examination of data from the airplane’s engine data monitor revealed that shortly before the engine lost power, the fuel flow and pressure values suddenly decreased to 0, after which the cylinder head temperature (CHT) and EGT also began decreasing. The data were consistent with an interruption of fuel flow to the engine, resulting in a total loss of engine power. In summary, the data which suggest the loss of engine power was preceded by an interruption of fuel flow, the successful posaccident test run of the engine, the lack of any mechanical anomalies found during the poaccident examinations and test runs of the engine and its subcomponents, combined with the limited amount of fuel recovered from the airplane after the accident, were all indicative that the loss of engine power was most likely the result of fuel starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.