- Date
- January 16, 1989, 18:14 local (22:14 UTC)
- Place
- Carolina, PR
- Injuries
- 6 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N457SABritten-Norman BN-2A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report January 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890116000539A
- Case key
- 32271
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
Fuel exhaustion and the failure of the pilot to insure that the proper fuel load was placed on the aircraft for the flight. Contributing factors included the improper refueling of the aircraft, improper initial training of the refueler and the crop, which caused substantial damage to the aircraft.
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
The plt ordered 42 gallons of fuel to be added to the acft which would bring the total fuel load to 60 gallons. The lineman added 4.2 gallons bringing the total fuel load to 22.2 gallons. The plt did not verify the fuel load prior to departure. The acft was flown from san juan to vieques in which 12 gallons were burned. No fuel was added and the plt again did not verify his fuel load. The flt departed vieques en route back to san juan with 10.2 gallons of fuel. On descent into san juan both engines failed and a forced landing was made in a sugar cane field. After rolling about 100 yds the left ldg gr collapsed. Post crash examination of the acft revealed it contained 36 ounces of fuel with no evidence of leakage. The engines were operated to full power with no evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction after the accident. The lineman had been hired as a part-time employee on 1/2/89. He stated he was working only his fifth day and that he had no formal refueling trng.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N457SA
- Reported as
- Britten-Norman BN-2A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 27
- Airframe hours
- 9,938
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-E4C5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Vieques Air Link, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · January 12, 1989 · 9 hours before
- Departed
- VQS · Vieques, PR
- Destination
- SIG · San Juan, PR
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,200 total · 2,100 in this make and model · 5,200 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 60 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 120° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SJU, 3 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.