Fuel exhaustion due to the inadequate preflight planning and preparation by the pilot in command. Additional causes were the inadequately planned approach and improper emergency procedure by the pilot.
NTSB Accidents
Unknown reason for structural failure
The structural failure of the wings for undetermined reasons.
January 2006 accident reports
The aircraft’s encounter with a deer during landing
A nighttime approach ends badly
A missed approach not performed by the pilot and the directional control not maintained by the pilot during landing. Contributing factors were the crosswind, unavailability of wind information due to inoperative meteorological equipment, and a NOTAM not issued by airport personnel indicating that the meteorological equipment was inoperative.
December 2005 accident report
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from the terrain during low-level maneuvering at night. Factors included the pilot’s improper in-flight decision to continue into an area that was forecast possibly to contain snow, fog and low ceilings, his failure to obtain a weather update while en route, mountainous terrain, and inadvertent flight into instrument meteorological conditions while on a visual flight rules flight.
December 2005 Accident Reports
The pilot’s failure to maintain Vmc (velocity minimum control) on initial climb, resulting in a loss of control.
Missing dip stick leads to fatal crash of Navajo
The pilot’s failure to preflight the airplane, the pilot’s improper in-flight decision not to expedite the landing, and the inadvertent stall when the pilot allowed the airspeed to get too low. Factors contributing to the accident were the lineman’s improper servicing of the airplane when he left the oil dipstick out and the subsequent oil leak.
Mid-air collision kills New Jersey pilot
The inadequate visual lookout of the pilots in both airplanes, resulting in a midair collision during cruise flight.
NTSB: Lack of weather update killed Crossfield
After Crossfield took off, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center described “an ongoing cluster of strong to severe thunderstorms moving into northern Georgia, as a forward-propagating Mesoscale Convective System or squall line,” the NTSB report says. The weather was expected to destabilize further by mid-day because of surface heating, “enhancing the threat of organized severe thunderstorms and supercell thunderstorms.”