- Date
- August 31, 2018, 23:20 local (Sep 1, 2018, 04:20 UTC)
- Place
- Waupaca, WI
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N10DSBeech 55
- Defining event
- Landing: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20180831012679A
- Case key
- 98210
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 total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot departed in his airplane to evade law enforcement officers and flew to an airport to refuel. Law enforcement was awaiting him at that airport, so he did not land and refuel the airplane. During approach to another airport, the airplane impacted a cornfield and the fuselage and wings sustained substantial damage. No fuel was found in the airplane; thus, the airplane experienced a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Factual narrative
On August 31, 2018, at 2320 central daylight time, a Beech 55 airplane, N10DS, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Waupaca, Wisconsin. The pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. According to information obtained by the responding Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the pilot was involved in a domestic incident against his wife. The police pursued the pilot, who went to the Oshkosh Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and entered his own airplane. He was instructed to not take off by the tower controller but departed the airport anyway. The pilot flew to Stevens Point Municipal Airport (STE), Stevens Points, Wisconsin, to refuel the airplane, but was met by law enforcement after he landed, so he departed STE, without refueling. During the approach to the Waupaca Municipal Airport (PCZ), Waupaca, Wisconsin, the airplane collided with terrain in a cornfield, about 1/2 to 1 mile northwest of the airport. Substantial damage was sustained to the airplane's fuselage and wings. A postaccident examination of the airplane did not find any fuel in the fuel tanks or lines.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N10DS
- Reported as
- Beech 55 (95B55)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TC-943
- Engines
- Continental IO-470 SER, 260 horsepower, reciprocatingContinental IO-470 SER, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- OSH · Oshkosh, WI
- Destination
- PCZ · Waupaca, WI
- Airport
- PCZ · Waupaca Muni, runway 13, 3,899 × 75 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
- 47
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- 160° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KPCZ, 1 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 23, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 371 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.