- Date
- September 19, 1991, 12:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Arco, ID
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7985PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910919042269A
- Case key
- 41544
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
Water in the fuel tank and the inability of the pilot to flare for landing after maneuvering to avoid transmission lines in his flight path during the forced landing.
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 aircraft was parked on a slope left wing low and had been exposed to rain prior to the flt. The plt sumped all 4 fuel tanks and then visually determined that he had sufficient fuel for the 1 hour flt to destination. After departing on the right main tank and briefly using both aux tanks and approximately 30 minutes into the flt he switched to the left main tank and the engine began missing. Believing that he had no fuel in the left tank he switched to the left aux which he exhausted and back to right main which was also exhausted. After a total of 55 minutes of flt and while approaching his destination he was unable to maintain power on the right aux and executed a forced ldg. During the approach he determined that power lines interfered with his landing and maneuvered to an alternate ldg site. This maneuver resulted in the pilot's inability to safely flare due to sink rate and low airspeed and a hard ldg followed. A total of 5 gallons of fuel was drained from the left main tank subsequent to the forced ldg.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7985P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-3223
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C1B5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert D. Bowman
- Registered owner
- Robert D. Bowman
- Departed
- U81 · Cold Meadows, ID
- Destination
- U57 · Arco-Butte, ID
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
- 66
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,715 total · 1,330 in this make and model · 1,715 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N7985P · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.