N988CT Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA20-C1 accident

NTSB CEN23LA281 · 2023-07-06 · Jeffersonville, IN

Docket — crew, injuries and powerplant

Factual narrative

The flight instructor reported that, before the flight, he and his student inserted a calibrated wooden stick into the fuel tank to check the fuel quantity of the airplane and believed that it indicated just below ¾ tank, or about 16 gallons of fuel remaining. They completed the preflight inspection and proceeded with the flight to another airport for takeoff and landing practice. While at the other airport, they performed six circuits of the traffic pattern before proceeding back toward the departure airport. As they approached the airport, the flight instructor heard the engine speed decrease and initially thought his student had retarded the throttle, but she had not. The engine recovered briefly and then sputtered again. The flight instructor said he checked the mixture, master switch, ignition, and fuel pump settings, and the engine continued to have spurts of power. He surmised that they were experiencing a fuel issue and noted that the fuel gauge read empty. He notified air traffic control, and was cleared to land, but had insufficient altitude and executed a forced landing to a corn field. The airplane received substantial damage to the fuselage including separation of the empennage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no usable fuel remained in the fuel tank. The flight instructor reported that he believed the time of day, weather conditions and lighting combined with an expectation bias, contributed to misreading of the fuel stick, which likely read below ½ tank before the flight. He also noted that he prepared a safety presentation about the event to present to flying club members and other aviation meetings. Based on the available information, the engine power loss was due to exhaustion of the airplane’s fuel supply.

Probable cause

The pilot’s improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this accident.

Circumstances

Event type

Accident

Highest injury

None

Weather conditions

Visual Meteorological Cond

Light condition

Day

Sky condition

BKN

Ceiling (ft)

25000

Visibility (sm)

10

Wind direction

250

Wind speed (kt)

6

Temperature (F)

79

Distance from field

0.0

Aircraft

Sequence of events

Findings