Pilot Debrief

CESSNA T207 near Indianapolis, IN — 2014-06-27

Final reportCEN14LA327
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Date
2014-06-27
Location
Indianapolis, IN, USA
Airport
KIND
Aircraft
CESSNA T207
Registration
N207AB
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Minor
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Descent

Probable cause

A loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, which resulted from the pilot's failure to monitor the fuel level and switch tanks in a timely fashion.

NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane took off for an aerial mapping flight fully fueled (80 gallons of total fuel, 76 gallons of which were usable). After about 3.9 hours of flight, he returned to the airport to land. When the airplane was 1.5 miles from the runway, the engine lost power. The pilot reported that he performed the engine failure checklist (restart procedure) items from memory but was unable to reestablish power. The airplane cleared the airport perimeter fence but impacted terrain short of the runway. During postaccident examination, no fuel was found in the left tank, fuel was found in the right tank, and the fuel selector was found positioned to the right tank. Other than the empty left tank, the examination revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction or abnormality that would have precluded normal engine operation. Therefore, it is likely that the fuel selector was positioned to the left tank and that the engine lost power due to fuel starvation when this tank ran dry. The pilot likely switched the fuel selector to the right tank during his unsuccessful attempt to restart the engine.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Fuel management
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have checked fuel levels before returning to land.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • ADS-B / radar
  • Photos
  • 6 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents6

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