MIA99LA174

The pilot stated that following a 2.5 hour cross country flight to within 5 to 6 miles of his destination airport, as he was leveling his descent and bringing in power, he got no engine response. He switched his fuel selector from left to right wing tank, but did not regain engine power. Realizing he could not make his intended landing airport, he tried for a closer private strip, but did not get lined up and ran off the runway, through a taxiway, and into some trees and a house, shearing the left wing. No evidence of fuel in the left tank was found and 12 gallons of fuel were found in the right tank. Subsequent start up of the engine by FAA inspectors using the airplane's own battery and fuel revealed no engine abnormalities.

On June 12, 1999, about 1806 eastern daylight time, a Cessna T210N, N6407N, registered to a private individual, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed during descent for landing to Clemson-Oconee County Airport, Clemson, South Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and the flight had cancelled their IFR flight plan at 1751. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and the commercial-rated pilot suffered minor injuries. One passenger suffered serious injuries, two passengers suffered minor injuries and two passengers suffered no injuries. The flight originated from Olive Branch, Mississippi, about 2 hours 29 minutes before the accident.

The pilot stated that as he raised the nose and applied power to level off his idle power descent, he got no engine response and switched fuel tanks from left tank to right tank. He did not regain engine power, and realizing he could not make his intended landing point, turned toward a private airstrip. He touched down about 20 degrees off runway heading, crossed the runway and adjacent taxiway, collided with trees and a residence.

According to an eyewitness, a pilot/mechanic watching from the window of his Eagle Ridge Airpark residence, he first sighted the airplane in a steep left bank, about 50 feet agl, landing gear and flaps down, windmilling propeller, attempting to line up on runway 23 of the private airpark. The airplane never did get lined up, touched down momentarily about a third of the way down the 2,100-foot asphalt runway, and exited the runway at about 30 degrees off centerline. The airplane left the runway, crossed a parallel taxiway, and collided with trees and the eyewitness' residence. The eyewitness ran to the accident site and began to assist. The left wing was torn off and there was no fuel contained in the ruptured left wing tank. There was no evidence of fuel contained in the left wing tank, precrash. The fuel selector was in the right tank position. Twelve gallons of fuel were removed from the right tank in 5-gallon containers.

According to FAA inspectors, the pilot had just cancelled his IFR flight plan and had called a visual to his landing airport when the engine quit. He switched fuel tanks, but could not get the engine restarted. The inspectors emphasized that the pilot's statement recounted that he did not change tanks until the engine quit. The pilot stated to the FAA inspectors that he uses the "GUMP" acronym for his "before landing checklist" memory jog instead of actual use of the Cessna checklist, i.e. "G" for gas, "U" for undercarriage, "M" for mixture, and "P" for prop. Subsequent examination of the wreckage by FAA inspectors revealed the airplane had sustained three definite and separate tree collisions; (1) left side of fuselage at the firewall area, (2) right wing about 3.5-feet from the tip and, (3) the left wing was separated at the wing root and the fuel tank had been breached and contained no fuel. There was no evidence from the foliage that the left wing tank contained fuel at the time of collision. The aircraft was equipped with an electronic fuel counter that senses fuel flow and reads out fuel remaining. Power was applied to the fuel counter and it indicated 13 gallons of fuel remaining. The engine was started on the airframe using the ship's own battery and fuel. Engine start was instantaneous and operation was smooth. High end rpm was not possible due to the bent propeller.