Quartz Mountain 11E N516BW

Summary

On 1 October 2025 at about 23:15 local time, a Quartz Mountain 11E registered N516BW was involved in an accident near Earlham, Iowa, 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

1 October 2025 at 23:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Earlham, Iowa, United States

Nearest airport

Winterset Municipal (3Y3)

Coordinates

41.4488, -94.1129

Aircraft

Quartz Mountain 11E

Registration

N516BW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2008

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Winterset → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN26LA003

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s inadequate fuel management which resulted in the 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 flight instructor reported that he and student departed about 1345 on a local flight to practice instrument approaches. About 1700, while returning to the destination airport and crossing the initial approach fix for a practice instrument approach, the left fuel tank indicator showed empty, and the right tank indicated about ¼ full (about 5 gallons remaining). About 6 miles from the runway, they felt a reduction in power, and the student announced the engine had lost power. The flight instructor took the controls and maneuvered the airplane to perform a forced landing to a field. They attempted to restart the engine, but the restart was not successful. During the forced landing, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot estimated the total flight time was 3 hours and 15 minutes. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to empennage, and the fuel line to the fuel pump inlet did not contain any fuel. During recovery, a few ounces were found in the fuel system. The fuel tanks did not appear to be compromised, and fuel seepage from the wings was not detected on the ground. The flight instructor reported that throughout the flight, the student properly leaned the engine during cruise, and the fuel flow indicator showed about 6 gallons an hour average consumption during those times. The RPMs read about 2,100 to 2,200, and the indicated airspeed was just over 100 knots. The airplane’s fuel capacity was 40 gallons, and prior to departure, the airplane’s fuel tanks were full. The installed engine was derated to 185-horsepower. Engine performance charts showed that at 195-horsepower, fuel consumption could be approximately 15.8 gallons per hour. At 75% power (about 157-horsepower), fuel consumption was about 12.6 gallons per hour. However, precise flight information was not available to confirm total fuel consumption for the accident flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.