Pilot Debrief

PIPER PA-32-300 near Lancaster, CA — 2012-09-04

Final reportWPR12CA400
Sign in to save
Date
2012-09-04
Location
Lancaster, CA, USA
Airport
WJF
Aircraft
PIPER PA-32-300
Registration
N308DF
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Climb

Probable cause

The student pilot’s inadvertent selection of an empty fuel tank.

NTSB narrative

The student pilot was flying solo back to her home airport after completing a lesson with a flight instructor. Before the flight instructor exited the airplane, the student pilot verified that the right main fuel tank was selected and full. However, as the airplane climbed through about 700 feet above ground level, the engine began to sputter. The student pilot checked the ignition switch and turned on the boost pump. She elected to land straight ahead in an empty field rather than try to turn back to the runway and made a soft field, power-off landing. During the landing roll, the right main landing gear began to sink into a furrow. The airplane’s nose gear collapsed, resulting in damage to the firewall. The student stated that the fuel selector valve had been problematic due to the lightness of the stop between the right main and the right wing tip positions. On previous occasions, she had noticed that it could be inadvertently moved from the right main to the tip, and had developed a method of planting her hand before selecting the right main so as to prevent the selector from moving through the stop to the right tip. After the accident, she verified that the fuel selector was in the right tip tank position, and that tank was empty.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Fuel management
First missed decision gate
Properly check fuel selector position before flight could have prevented the issue.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 1 docket document
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents1

Related mishaps