- Date
- July 31, 1985, 11:20 local (16:20 UTC)
- Place
- Eureka, WI
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8503EPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850731035489A
- Case key
- 12859
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
Prior to takeoff the pilot calculated that with 48 gallons of fuel he could make the four hour flight to oshkosh with one hour of fuel to spare. Upon arriving at a point 25 mi sw of oshkosh he received a request to descend 1200 ft, a request to climb 1200 ft and a request to change heading numberous times. He complied with these requests which were necessary to work him into the traffic flow whichwas congested due to the annual eaa fly-in. His engine began to fail due to fuel exhaustion and he performed a forced landing which substantially damaged the aircraft. FAA personnel stated that if the pilot would have warned them abouthis fuel state before the engine began to fail, they would have given him a more direct routing to the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8503E
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28761905
- Airframe hours
- 3,008
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 15, 1985 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- 3G6 · Sebring, OH
- Destination
- OSH · Oshkosh, WI
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 390 total · 280 in this make and model · 230 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.