19990105009749A

(.19)On January 5, 1999, at 1255 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-30, N3TH, was destroyed during a forced landing to a field near Fairfield, Virginia. The certificated commercial pilot and one passenger were seriously injured. A second passenger received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight that originated at martin state airport (mtn), baltimore, Maryland, at 1136, destined for roanoke, Virginia (roa). An instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight conducted under 14 CFR part 91. In a perliminary report the federal aviation administration (FAA) stated N3TH was in cruise flight at 6,000 feet in the vicinity of montebello, Virginia, when the pilot reported a loss of engine power. The pilot said he would attempt to land on interstate highway 81. According to an FAA aviation safety inspector who responded to the scene, the passenger in the back seat said that the airplane flew throung a dense cloud prior to a loss of engine power on the right engine. He said that he liked to monitor the gauges during flight and noticed each engine consumed 9 gollons per hour while in cruise flight. The passenger said that the fuel flow gauge on the right engine went to zero when the engine stopped. The back seat passenger said that at the time of the power loss, the pilot entered a left bank and attempted to re-start the right engine. He said the pilot selected the interstate highway for landing and continued the attempted restart while in a left descending orbit. The passenger said the left engine also stopped producing power and the pilot determined the highway could not be reached. While on final approach to land in a field, the airplane stalled, and the pilot accomplished a partial recovery from the stall prior to ground contact. In a telephone interview, the front seat passenger said the outside air temperature in cruise flight was "...forty below zero." He said both engines were "spitting and spattering" prior to the loss of power on the right engine. The passenger said the pilot entered the left descending orbit and accomplished a restart of the right engine before both engines lost power. In a telephone interview, a pilot rated witness stated he noticed the airplane overhead. He said: "I noticed the airplane at a high angle of bank, high power setting, and high RPM. He circled about eight times. He looked like he was about 4,000 feet and, at the time, it didn't look like an emergency. I could not hear if it was one engine or two. There was no sputtering. It was putting out a lot of power. He was circling as if he was trying to observe something on the ground." According to the Maryland aviation administration, the airplane was "topped off" with 48.8 gallons of fuel approximately 1 hour prior to departure from mtn. Preliminary examination of the wreckage by the FAA revealed evidence of fuel at the scene. The inspectors measured approximately 6 inches of fuel in each main tank and no fuel in either nacelle tank. The left auxiliary tank measured approximately 3 inches of fuel and the right auxiliary tank was ruptured. The left fuel selector was found in the 'main' position and the right fuel selector was found in the 'aux.' Position. Neither propeller was feathered and the propeller levers were found in the full forward position. According to the owner's handbook: (.4)the airplane was in cruise flight at 6,000 feet in below zero temperatures when the right engine stopped producing power. The pilot entered a left-hand orbit and attempted an engine restart. After several orbits, the left engine stopped producing power. The pilot completed a forced landing to a field that destroyed the airplane. Examination of the wreckage revealed evidence of fuel at the scene with the left fuel selector in the 'auxiliary' position and the right selector in the 'main' position. The right fuel selector filter element bowl could not be freed after removal of the mount screws. The bowl was pried free and the filter element screens were found completely occluded with ice. An FAA airworthiness directive (AD), 'to eliminate water contamination of the aircraft fuel supply', that mandated compliance every 50 hours of operation, had not been complied with in 16 calendar months and 234 hours of operation. The owner's handbook stated auxiliary fuel and tip tank fuel should be used in level flight only, and that the single engine service ceiling was approximately 5,800 feet, at maximum gross weight. Both engines started and ran to rated power in a test cell.