- Date
- September 27, 1997, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Lebanon, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N54JTTomlinson Pober Super ACE
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 4, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970927044569A
- Case key
- 3907
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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Probable cause
The pilot's failure to follow normal checklist procedures that resulted in fuel starvation.
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 estimated that the airplane had 16 gallons of low lead aviation fuel in the tanks at takeoff. After takeoff the pilot switched the fuel selector from the fuselage tank to the wing tank. After 30 minutes of flight the pilot returned to the airport and entered the traffic pattern for landing. About 200 feet above the ground, while on final approach to land, the engine quit. Efforts to restart the engine were unsuccessful. The airplane collided with a tree short of the active runway. The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane. Normal operational procedures for takeoff and landing require that the fuel selector be placed in the fuselage/front tank position. The pilot stated that he had not switched the fuel selector to the fuller fuel tank, fuselage/front tank, prior to the loss of engine power.
Factual narrative
On September 27, 1997, at 1430 central daylight time, a Tomlinson, Pober Super Ace, N54JT, collided with a tree during an attempted emergency landing to the Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, Tennessee. The local pleasure flight operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage, and the private pilot was not injured. The flight departed Lebanon, Tennessee, at 1400.
The pilot estimated that the airplane had 16 gallons of low lead aviation fuel in the tanks at takeoff. After takeoff the pilot switched the fuel selector from the fuselage tank to the wing tank. After 30 minutes of flight the pilot returned to Lebanon Airport and entered the traffic pattern for runway04. About 200 feet above the ground, while on final approach to land, the engine quit. Efforts, to restart the engine, failed. The airplane collided with a tree short runway.
The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane. Normal operational procedures for takeoff and landing require that the fuel selector be placed in the fuselage/front tank position. The pilot stated that he had not switched the fuel selector to the fuller fuel tank, fuselage/front tank, prior to the loss of engine power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N54JT
- Reported as
- Tomlinson Pober Super ACE (POBER SUPE)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 22A
- Airframe hours
- 130
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1C, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- John J. Tomlinson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 1997 · 5 hours before
- Departed
- M54
- Airport
- M54 · Lebanon Municipal, runway 4, 2,500 × 200 ft, grass/turf
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
- 67
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 130 in this make and model · 900 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 14,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BNA, 35 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.