- Date
- August 9, 1999, 11:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hasty, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9103YPzl-Mielec M-18A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 2, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990809047739A
- Case key
- 47009
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 refuel his airplane, and the subsequent airborne fuel exhaustion. Factors were the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing, and the high vegetation in the field.
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, he had just finished an application job, and was flying back to his private airstrip. He said his fuel gauge was reading about 1/4 full. Two minutes later, his engine lost power. He hand pumped his fuel boost pump but there was no fuel in it. He performed a forced landing to a corn field, and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On August 9, 1999, approximately 1100 mountain daylight time, a Pzl-Mielec M-18A (Dromader), N9103Y, was substantially damaged during a forced landing near Hasty, Colorado. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant in the airplane, was not injured. The airplane was being operated by Denton Aerial Spraying, Las Animas, Colorado, under Title 14 CFR Part 137. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local aerial application flight which originated from a private agricultural strip approximately 1 hour before the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
According to the pilot, he had just finished an application job, and was flying back to his private airstrip. He said his fuel gauge was reading about 1/4 full. Two minutes later, his engine lost power. He hand pumped his fuel boost pump but there was no fuel in it. He performed a forced landing to a corn field, and the airplane nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9103Y
- Reported as
- Pzl-Mielec M-18A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1Z016-27
- Airframe hours
- 4,939
- Engine
- Pzl-Kalisz ASZ-62IR-M18, 967 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Donald J. Koenig
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 17, 1999 · 90 hours before
- Departed
- NONE
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,014 total · 187 in this make and model · 2,917 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAA, 30 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.