The flight departed Santa Fe Municipal Airport (KSAF) in New Mexico, destined for Peoria International Airport (KPIA) in Illinois.
A fuel receipt from Jet Center at KSAF indicated that 54.2 gallons of fuel was purchased for the Mooney M20K three days before the flight.
A review of ADS-B data revealed that on the day the fuel was purchased the airplane departed KSAF and flew one time around the traffic pattern on a flight that lasted about four minutes.
No additional fuel receipts were located that indicate the airplane was refueled following that flight and no subsequent flights were made until the accident flight.
A review of ADS-B data revealed that after departure, the airplane climbed to an altitude of 15,000 feet and remained at that altitude for the almost five-hour flight. The data showed the flight as continuous with no stops.
When the airplane was about 28 miles west of KPIA, the pilot established communications with the KPIA air traffic control tower and reported inbound with the current weather information. The controller advised the pilot to enter a right downwind for Runway 22.
When the airplane was about 10 miles west of KPIA, the pilot informed the controller that the engine lost all power. When queried if they would be able to reach KPIA, the pilot stated that they would be unable.
The last recorded data point showed the airplane traveling west about 675 feet MSL and lined up with a road.
Surveillance video footage captured the airplane about one block east of the last data point. In the video, the landing gear was extended, and the propeller appeared to be windmilling. As the airplane descended it struck power lines near Hanna City, Illinois.
A second video taken from inside a vehicle showed the airplane immediately after the power line contact. It continued the descent and touched down on the road. After touch down, the left wing hit a bridge railing and then a road sign. The airplane continued eastbound, and the left wing then hit a power pole, which separated the left wing about 6 feet, 9 inches outboard of the wing root.
The rest of the airplane continued until it hit a building, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage.
Both the pilot and passenger died in the crash.
A post-accident examination revealed that the left-wing fuel tank was breached during the impact and empty. The right-wing fuel tank remained intact and when opened only a small amount of fuel was present. The fuel selector was positioned on the “RIGHT TANK.”
The fuel strainer contained about 3 ounces of fuel and the fuel line into the fuel flow divider was absent of fuel. The fuel flow divider was disassembled and no blockages were observed within the divider or fuel lines that would have prevented fuel from reaching the cylinders.
The airplane was equipped with a Shadin Avionics MiniFlo digital fuel management system, which was designed to provide fuel management information under real time flight conditions to the pilot. The unit was connected to the engine fuel flow transducers and did not interface with the airplane’s fuel quantity indicating system.
The unit required the pilot to enter the initial fuel on board the airplane and all calculations and data provided by the unit were based on fuel flow and any provided navigational information.
When power was applied to the unit, it displayed the gallons used as 64.9 gallons and the gallons remaining as 10.1 gallons. The unit did not retain data indicating the last time the system was reset to full fuel.
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
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This August 2022 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.
Very sad, but an oft-told tale of fuel starvation and death. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.” Despite the numerous stories of GA crashes due to fuel starvation, some pilots just don’t heed the need for scrupulous attention to aviation details such as fuel consumption, sumping the water out of the tanks, etc. They learn (or don’t learn) those lessons the hard way, and cause grief and sadness to their loved ones they leave behind. the same goes for wearing seatbelts in cars and helmets on motor cycles. RIP pilot and passenger.
Regards/J
It looks like he had much less fuel than the totalizer indicated. No programming of a couple of the electronics.
The 54 gallons he added , at 12.5 gph, was good for the 4.8 hrs he flew and ran out of fuel.
He over flew 4+ airports along his route within 50nm of his destination…lots of opportunity to stop for 10 -15 gal…Why not ?
There was a Restricted airport near where he ran out of fuel, and an easy glide to it.
So, probably a lack of situational awareness, not monitoring fuel, and where landing options were.
Sad…and 2 people dead.
[ I wonder of the a/c only had lap belts , vs 4 pt harness, no info in the docket ?]
I kinda wondered the same thing about belts but the cabin is pretty smashed. Maybe wouldn’t have mattered. Having said that, I also wonder generally about the effectiveness of a single shoulder strap. Better than just lap belts, but….
Guess it depends on the distance the yokes and dashboard come backward toward the pilot and passenger and cause blunt force compression trauma. Even a criss-cross belt won’t prevent that force from crushing the body. Air bags for an airplane? Might save a few lives.
Regards/J
The recovery folks cut away the top of the cockpit, so as long as the engine didn’t push the firewall back, then the front seat folks need to be kept from impacting the yolks and glareshield.
I have 4 point harnesses at the front seats, which will keeps me from impacting the forward ‘stuff’.
I wonder, if the FAA would mandate 4 point harnesses for all GA aircraft front seats, how many more pilots would still be alive.?
What I wonder is if the Pilot was actually a PAX letting the autopilot fly and not monitoring systems. Had he been monitoring systems, he might have seen that he was not going to have any Reserves when he got to where he was going. So he could have stopped for fuel.
But he ran out of of fuel and apparently within gliding distance of an airport. Had he been actively flying that plane, he might have been able to glide to the closest airport.
I say this becasue I’ve flown behind autopilots coupled to a GPS. And it gets pretty boring on a 4 hour leg. Just say’n’.
That is possible. The aircraft was flying a max. cruise speed of 180 kts. very straight, then made one turn over what looks like a waypoint.
Had he noticed the low fuel levels, reducing the power would reduce the rate of fuel use and he would have saved enough fuel to make the airport.