- Date
- November 29, 1990, 11:10 local (19:10 UTC)
- Place
- Enumclaw, WA
- Injuries
- 4 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N13UWPiper PA31
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 23, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901129054709A
- Case key
- 41297
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
Fuel exhaustion due to inadequate preflight planning and preparations, and poor inflight planning and decisions. The pilot elected to fly into known adverse weather conditions, and did not calculate fuel consumption for the planned flight.
Analysis
During a cross country flight, the pilot failed to plan for the effects of known adverse weather, including strong winds aloft and mountain wave activity. The pilot overflew several possible fuel stops, continuing on toward the destination until the fuel was exhausted. The airplane collided with heavily wooded terrain after the loss of power to both engines.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N13UW
- Reported as
- Piper PA31
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-512
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Bramwell, Steven T
- Departed
- PVU · Provo, UT
- Destination
- PAE · Everett, WA
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 638 total · 559 in this make and model · 482 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 15 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- BOE, 30 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.