LAX05LA318

During cruise flight on a dark night, the airplane collided with a mountain while diverting to an alternate airport due to a low fuel state. According to the pilot, he fueled the airplane with 48 gallons of fuel and departed Cedar City, Utah, with full tanks. He arrived at Elko 2 hours later, did a touch-and-go landing and takeoff, and then departed for the return trip to Cedar City. His route of flight took him over the Ely, Nevada, airport, where he noted the fuel gauges were running low. He made three unsuccessful attempts to activate the runway lights so that he could land and refuel the airplane. When he was unable to activate the runway lights, he decided to continue the flight to his destination. The pilot stated that when he was about 90 nautical miles beyond Ely he realized that his flight was taking longer than expected and one fuel gauge was showing less than 5 gallons and the other one was showing 5 gallons. He contacted Salt Lake ARTCC and communicated his low fuel situation to the controller, who then vectored the pilot south towards an airport at Panaca, Nevada. The pilot reported to the controller that one of the fuel tanks had run dry. The controller then told him that a highway was directly underneath the pilot's location; however, the pilot could not identify the road due to the dark night conditions. The controller then asked the pilot if he was able to climb for terrain clearance, to which the pilot replied negatively. At that point, the controller instructed the pilot to turn to a heading of 180 degrees for terrain avoidance and the pilot was complying with the turn instructions when he simultaneously saw and crashed into the mountain. According to the airplane manufacturer, the airplane's total fuel capacity is 50 gallons, of which 2 gallons (1 gallon each side) is unusable for flight. According to the manufacturer, the airplane's typical fuel burn is about 10 gallons of fuel an hour. The airplane had been airborne about 5 hours when the accident happened.

On September 25, 2005, at 2054 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a single engine Piper PA-28-140, N5031T, lost engine power and made a forced landing in the mountains of the Wilson Creek area, near Pioche, Nevada. The pilot operated the rental airplane from Benson Aviation under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, as a personal round robin cross-country flight. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Dark night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight departed from Cedar City Regional Airport (CDC), Cedar City, Utah, at 1540 PDT (1640 mountain standard time), made a landing at Elko Regional Airport (EKO), Elko, Nevada, and was returning to CDC when the accident occurred.

According to the pilot, he fueled the airplane with 48 gallons of fuel and departed CDC with full tanks. He arrived at EKO about 1940, did a touch-and-go landing and takeoff, and then departed for the return trip to CDC. His route of flight took him over Ely Airport (Yelland Field - ELY), Ely, Nevada, where he noted the fuel tanks were running low. He made three unsuccessful attempts to activate the runway lights at ELY so that he could refuel the airplane. When he was unable to activate the runway lights, he decided to continue the flight to CDC.

The pilot stated that as he got closer to Wilson Creek, about 90 nautical miles from ELY, he contacted Salt Lake Center (SLC). He was worried because it took him longer than expected to get to the Wilson Creek VOR (Very High Frequency Omni-Range), and he noticed that one fuel tank indicated less than 5 gallons, and the other fuel tank was indicating 5 gallons. The pilot communicated his low fuel situation to the SLC controller, who then vectored the pilot south towards Lincoln County Airport (1L1), Panaca, Nevada.

The pilot reported that one of the fuel tanks ran dry, which he reported to SLC. The SLC controller told him that a highway was directly underneath the pilot's location; however, the pilot indicated that it was very dark and he didn't see anything. The controller asked the pilot if he was able to climb, to which the pilot replied negatively. At that point, the SLC controller instructed the pilot to turn to a heading of 180 degrees towards Lincoln County Airport. While the pilot was complying with the heading instructions he simultaneously saw and crashed into a mountain.

The pilot hiked down from the mountain, in about 4 hours, and was picked up by a passerby on a road who took him to the hospital.

According to the airplane manufacturer, the accident airplane holds a total fuel capacity of 50 gallons, of which 2 gallons (1 gallon each side) is unusable for flight. The airplane's fuel burn is about 10 gallons of fuel an hour, which provides approximately 4 hours of flight time.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) estimated that the total nautical miles (nm) flown was 416 nm. Total flight time was 5 hours. Distances for each leg of the flight was estimated to be:

CDC to EKO - 225 nm

EKO to ELY - 101 nm

ELY to the accident site - 90 nm