The private pilot and the passenger were making a local personal flight in the Grumman AA1.
According to witnesses, the airplane was flying “low” in the vicinity of the runway at the airport in Portland, Tennessee, when it hit trees and terrain in a nose-down attitude. Both the pilot and passenger died in the crash.
Examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel selector was in the left tank position. There was no fuel in the left tank or in the fuel lines, and there was less than 1 teaspoon of fuel in the electric boost pump.
It is likely that the engine lost power because of fuel exhaustion.
At an unknown time, the airplane’s original 108-horsepower engine had been replaced with a 150-horsepower engine. An updated pilot operating handbook or operating handbook supplement that would have provided fuel consumption figures for the higher horsepower engine was not located.
When the accident occurred, the airplane had been flown about 2.23 hours since it had been fully fueled. Based on the estimated fuel burn rate of between 8.8 and 10 gallons per hour provided by the engine manufacturer for the 150-horsepower engine, the airplane likely would have consumed its entire usable fuel capacity of 22 gallons about the time of the accident.
Probable cause: The pilot’s improper fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Identification: ERA17FA299
This August 2017 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I know he died and that’s sad but why he died is criminal in my estimation. He took another with him. Do we in our rush to fly forget to plan and examine. When did you last run out of gas in your car? Probably never! Why? You looked at the gas gauge. Yet we don’t do it when our necks are on the line! Two families destroyed and for what? Totally preventable! It really bothers me as this kind of stupidity and sloppiness gives the GA community as a whole a black eye. Somehow, and I have no ideas, this community needs to get its act together before some do good vote for me congressperson shoves more regulations or red tape down our throats. People, I’m getting sick of reading about running out of gas. Smarten up!
2.23 hours is all it takes to burn off the complete fuel supply? Why in the world would anybody want that extra power if it imposes such a severe operational constraint. The AA-1 series does not have much in the way of fuel supply to begin with as it is kept in the hollow tubular wing spar and the wing itself is dry (filler ports are out in the wingtips). That is not the sort of arrangement that lends itself to long range add-on’s. Other then that limitation on storage space for fuel and high fuel consumption from the oversized engine this is just one more example of a pilot being oblivious to fuel state, and on a local flight at that.
Sometimes, there are fuel leaks for various reasons, so even the best flight planning is not enough. Doesn’t anyone monitor the fuel gauges?
Upgrading from 108-150 WILL burn more fuel. He might have forgotten all about the upgrade.
Not fuel exhaustion (that sounds like an accident). Fuel felony. Killing people is a crime, not an accident.
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