- Date
- September 27, 1996, 09:35 local (13:35 UTC)
- Place
- Wassau Island, GA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N151JPPiper PA-31-310
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 25, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960927030189A
- Case key
- 38089
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 planning which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
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 flight was airborne for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, when the pilot reported to Approach Control that the airplane's engines lost power. The pilot stated, 'the right engine quit, shortly thereafter the left engine quit.' ATC gave the pilot vectors to an airport. The pilot said that after getting the airport in sight, 'I thought it [was] too far to make a safe landing,' and elected to land on the beach. In addition, the pilot stated that the 'fuel gauges [were] giving faulty readings.' The pilot did not mention the amount of fuel onboard at the time the engines failed, or if the airplane was serviced with fuel before departure. One of the passengers stated that after the engines failed the pilot 'tried many tricks to get down...switched fuel tanks, pumps on/off etc...to no avail.' When the FAA arrived at the wreckage they found no fuel in the fuel tanks, and none of the fuel tanks had been breached, nor was there any signs of fuel leakage.
Factual narrative
On September 27, 1996, about 0935 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31-310, N151JP, registered to a private owner, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91, personal flight, crashed in the vicinity of Wassau Island, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airline transport pilot, and two passengers were not injured. The flight had departed Sarasota, Florida, at 0750, en route to Hilton Head, South Carolina, when the pilot reported to Savannah Approach Control that the airplane's engines had lost power.
The pilot stated that about 25 to 30 miles southeast of Savannah "the right engine quit, shortly thereafter the left engine quit." ATC gave the pilot vectors to Hunter Field, however the pilot said, after getting the airport in sight, "I thought it [was] too far to make a safe landing," and elected to land on the beach.
In addition, the pilot stated on the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, that the "fuel gauges [were] giving faulty readings." The pilot did not fill out the block on the form pertaining to fuel onboard at the time of takeoff or did he mention weather or not the airplane was serviced with fuel before departure.
One of the passengers stated that after the engines failed the pilot "tried many tricks to get down...switched fuel tanks, pumps on/off etc...to no avail."
When the FAA arrived at the wreckage they found no fuel in the fuel tanks, and none of the fuel tanks had been breached, nor was there any signs of fuel leakage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N151JP
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-310
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 317812112
- Airframe hours
- 8,926
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Coastal Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 1996 · 48 hours before
- Departed
- SRQ · Sarasota, FL
- Destination
- 49J · Hilton Head, SC
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
- 59
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 20,000 total · 100 in this make and model · 15,000 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.