- Date
- January 3, 1989, 08:12 local (13:12 UTC)
- Place
- Springfield, OH
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9034YPiper PA-31
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 22, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890103000029A
- Case key
- 7872
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Fuel exhaustion precipatated by the inadequate fuel consumption calculations performed by the pilot, pressure from the company president to not carry excess fuel and improper in-flight planning/decisions by the pilot by not refueling enroute before fuel was exhausted. Contributing to the accident was the inadequate surveillance and certification of the operator by the FAA.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The plt was making a contract cargo flt under FAR 91 rules and had experienced icg enroute. When just past dayton, he indicated that he 'had a little fuel problem' and needed to get into osu without delays. A short time later he indicated that he needed to go to the nearest airport. He was vectored toward sgh for ldg. He then indicated that he had lost an engine and a short time later indicated that he had lost the other engine. The acft crashed in a residential area. There was no fire and only residual fuel was found in the airplane. The company president indicated that he did not encourage his pilots to carry 'excess fuel'. It was reported that this pilot, along with others, had been 'chewed out' for carrying 'excess fuel'. The operation should have been conducted under FAR 135 rules since the company had retained operational control of the operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9034Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-47
- Airframe hours
- 5,906
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-A1B, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Apollo II Limited
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1988 · 102 hours before
- Departed
- MQJ · Indianapolis, IN
- Destination
- OSU · Columbus, OH
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SGH · Beckley Mun.
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 22
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight engineer, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,041 total · 57 in this make and model · 660 as pilot in command · 180 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 3 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft
- Temperature
- 27 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DAY, 17 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.