20160116005999A

The accident site was located approximately 1,200 feet from the approach end of runway 5 at riley creek airport (12TN), in Kingston, Tennessee.

Initial inspection of the aircraft showed that the fuel selector indicated that the right tank was selected.

No smell of fuel was present at the accident site. No indication of fuel leakage was observed from either wing. The aircraft was situated with the right wing pointing upward towards the sky, forcing any remaining fuel in its tank to be situated at the fuel drain; the left wing was resting on the ground with the leading edge pointing downward, forcing any remaining fuel in its tank to be situated below the point where fuel could be drawn from the fuel drain. The inspectors attempted to drain fuel from both fuel tank drains and the gascolator, but none produced even a drop of fuel. This implied that the right fuel tank and fuel lines leading into the engine were completely empty of fuel. The fuel level of the left fuel tank was approximately one-half inch below the filler neck and appeared to be blue. This indicated that several gallons of fuel remained in the tank and the grade was most likely 100 low-lead. No fuel was spilled during the inspection of any part of the fuel system.

The pilot described the events leading up to and including the accident:

The pilot explained that he had replaced the o-rings on the fuel caps and repaired the left fuel drain a couple of weeks prior because they had all been leaking fuel. To perform this maintenance he drained the left tank and poured as much of that fuel into the right fuel tank as he could. After completing the maintenance, he poured the remaining fuel back into the left tank and estimated that the right tank had approximately 28 gallons of fuel and the left had approximately 1 to 1.5 gallons.

When he arrived at the airport (12TN) the morning of the accident, he performed his initial aircraft check and tested the fuel. He stated that no water was present in his fuel samples.

The pilot took off on runway 5 and headed south to fly around the area for a little while. He returned to the airport and landed on runway 5. He decided to take off on runway 23 to head back out towards the south. When he returned to land for the second time, he claimed that the engine sputtered briefly and then simply quit as he entered the traffic pattern at 1,800 feet above mean sea level (MSL) for runway 23.

He immediately began to troubleshoot the situation, but elected not to switch the fuel selector to the left tank because he knew there was only about 1 to 1.5 gallons in that tank. Since he had only flown for about an hour, and since he had been drawing fuel only from the right tank for the duration of his flight, he knew there should still be approximately 18 to 20 gallons of fuel still in that tank. (He stated that his aircraft usually burned between 8 and 10 gallons per hour.)

The pilot stated that his altitude was approximately 1,600 feel MSL when he turned from the downwind to the base leg of the traffic pattern. At that point, he knew he would not make it back to the runway. He was going to have to choose between landing in the creek, the trees, or into a house. Thinking that the trees would flex, and possibly soften the impact when his aircraft made contact with them, he felt like aiming for them was his best option.

The pilot stated how he verified his fuel quantity prior to initiating his flight. He stated he conducted a visual check ? He removed the fuel cap and looked into the right tank?s filler neck and saw that it was just a couple of inches below the top, which he estimated to indicate approximately 28 gallons of fuel. He planned to conduct the entire flight using fuel from the right tank only since he knew there was only about 1 to 1.5 gallons in the left tank.