- Date
- April 17, 1992, 14:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Broadus, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N35931Piper J-5A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920417016799A
- Case key
- 41660
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
Fuel system exhaustion. Factors include an inadequate preflight, inadvertent fuel dumping, and a ditch in the landing area.
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 pilot of the Piper J-5 had just purchased the aircraft and was returning to his home airport when the aircraft ran out of fuel. During the ensuing emergency landing the aircraft hit a ditch and nosed over. According to the pilot the aircraft had been burning about eight gallons of fuel per hour. The aircraft, which had been airborne approximately three and one half hours, should have had an endurance of over four hours at cruise. After the accident it was discovered that the left fuel tank cap had been put on with the pressurization tube facing aft instead of forward into the slipstream. Both the pilot and the FAA inspector who responded to the accident felt that the backwards cap had siphoned off some of the fuel, leading to fuel exhaustion. There was no evidence of an engine malfunction or other source of fuel leakage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35931
- Reported as
- Piper J-5A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5-821
- Airframe hours
- 2,484
- Engine
- Lycoming O-290-D, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Patten, Clayton P.
- Registered owner
- Patten, Clayton P.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 12, 1991 · 31 hours before
- Departed
- 9V9 · Chamberlain, SD
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
- 31
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 200 total · 9 in this make and model · 170 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.