20100422032169A

On April 22, 2010 at 1930 I was notified by the regional operations center that a Grumman ag cat N654U had crashed at Clayton county airport Tara field (4A7). I spoke to the PIC whom was not injured and was advised that he had ran out of fuel and after dropping the large banner off at 4A7. While applying power, the engine sputtered and lost power. The PIC elected to land straight ahead and forced landed into a culvert. The aircraft proceeded down the slope from the approach end of runway 6 and struck an embankment on the up side of a culvert causing the left landing gear assembly to rip off and the right hand wing to dig in and flip the aircraft onto is back and come to rest approximately 40 feet from the culvert. After discussions with the emergency responders at the scene it was decided that I would go to the site the next day as it was getting dark. I arrived on the scene at 0753 the morning of April 23, 2010. I met with the FBO personnel and reviewed the fuel receipt for N654U. It was noted that 58 gallons of fuel was dispensed into the aircraft on April 22, 2010 at 1430. The airport manager had performed a fuel quality check and found all fuel satisfactory. Upon arrival at the scene at 0812 I observed the aircraft inverted approximately 325 feet from the edge of the grass on the approach end of runway 06 consistent with the pilots statement. During the examination of the crash site, the aircraft was inverted and resting on the top wing. There was no evidence of fuel leakage and the left side fuselage frame was distorted with the landing gear ripped off. The left wing had substantial damage as wall as the rudder top. The PIC Mr. Clifton h. mccall arrived at the scene at 0930 and gave a written statement as to what had happened confirming the fuel exhaustion. The interview with the pilot in command Mr. Clifton harold mccall revealed the following: Mr. Mccall holds an FAA commercial pilot certificate and has approximately 100 hours in this make and model aircraft and 1502 hours total time. Mr. Mccall holds a valid second class medical certificate that was issued on 04/09/2009. Mr. Mccall was unsure as to how many hours he had logged in the last 90 days. At the time of the accident the weather was VMC, rwy 24 in use. According to Mr. Mccall, while dropping off the banner at 4A7 and attempting to land at Tara field had to execute a forced landing due to fuel exhaustion. Mr. Mccall elected to land straight ahead rather than risk a turn into the airport and possibly spin in due to low altitude and speed. According to the pilots statement the aircraft departed Tara field at 1600 and proceeded to the atlanta braves stadium (turner field) towing a large banner. He left the stadium at 1805 to return to Tara field (4A7). The PIC noted that his fuel quantity was getting low and leaned the engine and slowed down. The banner was dropped off at 1840 along the side of runway 06-24 on the north side in the grass. After dropping the banner at an altitude of no more than 100 feet according to his interview, the engine sputtered and lost power. When the aircraft was lifted, the top wing assembly was turned over and examined. The fuel quantity indicator indicated zero fuel quantity and when the gas cap was removed there was very little trace of fuel noted. The grass where the wing had been did not show signs of exposure to aviation fuel. The aircraft sustained major damage to the left fuselage tubular structure and landing gear attachment. The right wing leading edge and spar tip was crushed. The rudder top was crushed due to compression. At the time of the accident the tach indicator was 829.3 hours. The last annual was accomplished at 656.4 tach time on September 13, 2009. A 100 hour inspection was accomplished at 762.0 tach time on March 03, 2010. The total hour on the aircraft is 7039.9 hours.