- Date
- August 21, 1991, 17:46 local (21:46 UTC)
- Place
- Clearwater, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N9558WPiper PA-28-140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 9, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910821035709I
- Case key
- 32775
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
Total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation caused by improper fuel tank selector position by the pilot-in-command. Contributing to the incident was the pilot's total lack of experience.
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
During the base leg for a full stop landing, the eng experienced a total loss of power due to fuel starvation. The plt repositioned the fuel selector but the eng did not start. Unable to land at the arpt, he ditched the acft which nosed over after impact. The acft was recovered & the lt fuel tank, which was full, was drained & found to contain 5-10 gals of fuel. The remainder was water. The rt fuel tank, also full, was drained & found to contain water. No fuel was present. The fuel selector was positioned to the lt tank. The eng was examined with no evidence of failure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9558W
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-22995
- Airframe hours
- 2,091
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Tropicair Pilots Club
- Registered owner
- Toye, Bradley K.
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 27, 1990 · 70 hours before
- Airport
- PIE · St. Petersburg-Clearwater, runway 27, 5,165 × 150 ft
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 54 total · 16 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PIE, 1 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.