- Date
- May 20, 1989, 01:48 local (08:48 UTC)
- Place
- Arcata, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N35479Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 22, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890520012409A
- Case key
- 26412
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 pilots inaccurate fuel consumption calculations and improper fuel tank selector position. These resulted in fuel starvation to both engines when the aux tanks ran dry and the mains had fuel remaining in them. A factor in this accident was the rough terrain encountered when the pilot was forced to land short of the runway.
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
While established on an instrument approach, the right engine lost power. Shortly thereafter, the left engine lost power. The pilot was unable to restart either engine and a forced landing was made in an open field. During the landing roll, the airplane collided with the terrain. Inspection of the engine revealed that the aux tanks were empty. The main fuel tanks contained an unknown quantity and were ruptured in the crash sequence. The airplane had been operating off of the aux tanks prior to the loss of power. There were no mechanical failures or malfunctions reported with the airplane or engines.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35479
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-8052024
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Northern Aviation
- Registered owner
- Fortuna Communications Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 10, 1989
- Departed
- BFI · Seattle, WA
- Destination
- EKA · Eureka, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- ACV · Arcata, runway 32, 5,998 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,288 total · 66 in this make and model · 2,998 as pilot in command · 189 in the last 90 days · 83 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 150° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,000 ft unknown
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ACV, 2 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.
Other investigations on N35479 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.