- Date
- December 26, 2024, 18:57 local (23:57 UTC)
- Place
- Melbourne, FL · Parking lot of the flea market
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N76NNBeech BE-76
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report October 30, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20241226019209A
- Case key
- 199481
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 inadequate preflight fuel planning which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and subsequent forced landing.
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 and the pilot-rated passenger were flying the multi-engine airplane on a long cross-country trip. At an intermediate stop, the pilot had the airplane serviced to a total fuel quantity of 60 gallons and estimated that the fuel consumption for the planned 3-hour return flight would be slightly more than 9 gallons per hour, per engine. What he did not realize was that the total fuel consumption displayed to him by his flight planning application was only accounting for 9 gallons per hour total, or about half of what it should have been. About 3 hours after departure, the right engine began to sputter and subsequently lost total power. After declaring a fuel emergency to air traffic control, the left engine also lost power. The pilot and pilot-rated passenger determined that they would not be able to glide the airplane to a nearby airport and they began to scan for an alternate landing location. They attempted to land in a large parking lot, but the airplane struck power lines before contacting the ground. The airplane came to rest upright on the main landing gear. The left wing was separated outboard of the left engine, and the fuselage, right wing, and empennage sustained substantial damage. A small postimpact fire ignited near the portion of the left wing that separated from the fuselage and was quickly extinguished after the accident. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that less than 1 gallon of fuel remained in the right wing fuel tank and no fuel was present in what remained of the left wing fuel tank. There was no odor of fuel at the accident site. Given this information, it is likely that the loss of engine power to both engines was due to the pilot exhausting the airplane’s usable fuel supply.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N76NN
- Reported as
- Beech BE-76 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- ME-158
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 5,593.2
- Engines
- Lycoming Engines LO-360-A1G6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming Engines O-360-A1G6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Melbourne Flight Training LLC
- Registered owner
- Melbourne Flight Training LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 24, 2024 · 39 hours before
- Departed
- UZA · Rock Hill, SC
- Destination
- MLB · Melbourne, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- MLB · Melbourne Orlando Intl
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 28
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 19, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,226 total · 18 in this make and model · 1,147 as pilot in command · 175 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Pilot-rated passenger
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 26, 2000
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 940 total · 45 in this make and model · 851 as pilot in command · 196 in the last 90 days · 45 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- 30° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- MLB, 3 nm away
- METAR
- KMLB 262353Z 03006KT 10SM OVC045 19/17 A3011 RMK AO2 SLP195 60000 T01940167 10228 20194 53007
Docket · 8
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.8 MB 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.