- Date
- April 26, 2026, 16:59 UTC
- Place
- Enterprise, AL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N8432YPiper PA-30
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern downwind: Fuel starvation
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 29, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- Case key
- 202894
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 and inflight fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation and subsequent forced landing into trees.
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 stated that the purpose of the flight in the multiengine airplane was to build proficiency and to take an acquaintance, who was not a pilot, on a familiarization flight. The pilot described that before departing the airplane had 22 gallons of fuel in the main fuel tanks, and 15 gallons of fuel in the auxiliary fuel tanks, and that the entire flight was conducted utilizing the main fuel tanks. The pilot flew over a practice area for 20 minutes and then returned to the departure airport where he performed two uneventful touch-and-go landings. The pilot added that he miscalculated the fuel consumption rate and thought about 15 minutes of fuel remained for the third landing, which would have been full-stop. He further stated that while turning from the downwind to the base leg of the airport traffic pattern for the third landing, both engines lost total power. The pilot turned toward the runway and attempted to restart one of the engines; however, the attempt was unsuccessful and the airplane impacted trees about ½-mile short of the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, and both wings. The pilot added that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8432Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-30 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-1591
- Built
- 1967
- Airframe hours
- 5,942
- Engines
- Lycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 9, 2025 · 38 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- EDN · Enterprise Muni, runway 05/23, 5,080 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 49
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Military, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Powered-lift, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 30, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 4,722 total · 18 in this make and model · 3,562 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 29,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.91 inHg
- Observed at
- SXS, 6 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KSXS 261655Z AUTO 32007KT 10SM FEW039 SCT050 SCT190 BKN290 BKN330 28/17 A2991 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT W SLP127 T02770169
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 29, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 MB in all.