- Date
- September 11, 1991, 19:02 local (Sep 12, 1991, 00:02 UTC)
- Place
- Jackson, TN
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N13DTCessna 401
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910911039299A
- Case key
- 8469
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
The pilot's failure to select the main fuel tanks prior to the approach, resulting in fuel starvation and engine stoppage.
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 pilot had cancelled his IFR flight plan, and was proceeding to the airport visually. During his approach, the left engine quit, followed by the right engine. He then realized that he had failed to switch from the auxiliary fuel tanks to the main fuel tanks prior to the approach, and exhausted the auxiliary fuel supply. With insufficient altitude to attempt a restart, he force landed the airplane in a bean field short of the airport. After the airplane came to a stop, the occupants egressed, and the fuselage was consumed in a post-crash fire.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N13DT
- Reported as
- Cessna 401
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4010247
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Montague, Harvey L.
- Registered owner
- Montague Building Company, Inc
- Departed
- 5W5 · Raleigh, NC
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- MKL · Mckellar Field, runway 11, 3,540 × 100 ft, asphalt
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
- 55
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,681 total · 659 in this make and model · 1,681 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 310° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MKL, 1 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.