- Date
- April 20, 1991, 11:10 local (18:10 UTC)
- Place
- Spokane, WA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N570TSSmelser KR-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 7, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910420011539A
- Case key
- 41418
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
A failure of the fuel drain valve which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a loss of engine power.
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 a pleasure flight, the pilot reported that the engine RPM dropped and the engine quit. A forced landing was initiated in an open field. During the post-crash inspection, it was found that the shaft of a curtis quickdrain valve was missing which allowed the fuel to drain.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N570TS
- Reported as
- Smelser KR-2
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 5700-56
- Airframe hours
- 491
- Engine
- Hapi 60-2DM, 75 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Thomas W. Smelser
- Registered owner
- Thomas W. Smelser
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 16, 1990 · 36 hours before
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
- 51
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 586 total · 491 in this make and model · 555 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- SFF, 6 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.