ERA25LA307

On August 8, 2025, about 1757 eastern daylight time, a Beech A36, N60357, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident in Wirt County, West Virginia. The commercial pilot and three passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 corporate flight. The pilot reported that he departed Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field (LIT), Little Rock, Arkansas at 1233 central daylight time with a destination of North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB), Clarksburg, West Virginia, which was a straight-line distance of 637.5 nautical miles (nm). About 23 minutes from the destination airport, he began a descent from 7,000 ft mean sea level (msl) to 5,000 ft msl. Around 6,000 ft msl the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot attempted to restart the engine and was unsuccessful, the air traffic controller gave the pilot a vector to the closest airport, but it was too far for the airplane to glide to. The pilot selected a field and performed a forced landing. The airplane came to rest in a tree line at the end of the field and sustained substantial damage to the right wing. Postaccident examination of the airplane by an FAA inspector revealed that the fuel tanks did not contain any fuel. The pilot reported that prior to the flight the airplane was full of fuel. The manufacturer of the airplane reported that the accident airplane had been manufactured with the extended range fuel tank option and had a total usable fuel capacity of 74 gallons. Preliminary fuel burn calculations based on the ADS-B data and the Pilots Operating Handbook showed that at the time of the accident the airplane would have burned about 61 gallons of fuel. The onboard avionics were removed and sent to the National Transportation Safety Board vehicle recorders laboratory for data extraction. The wreckage was retained for further examination.