NTSB Factual Report

On February 15, 2013, about 1600 Pacific standard time, a Temco D-16A (Twin Navion), N716T, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following the simultaneous loss of total power from both engines near Heber, California. The private pilot, the sole occupant, received minor injuries. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal cross-country flight, which had originated from Chino, California, about 1.5 hours before the accident. A flight plan had not been filed.

The pilot said that "on or about" February 1, 2013, he pulled the airplane out of its hangar at Chino Airport and ran the engines for about 15 minutes to allow him to drain the oil in preparation for an annual inspection. The pilot further said that "at this time, the fuel truck arrived and we filled the main fuel tank." (Review of fuel receipts indicated that the airplane was fueled with 20 gallons of 100LL aviation gasoline on January 29, 2013). Over the next several days, the pilot and his mechanic performed an owner-assisted annual inspection. The mechanic said that upon completion of the inspection, the airplane needed a new battery, so he did not perform post-inspection engine runs. The next day the owner/pilot installed a new battery and checked the fuel system for leaks and found none. Additionally, the mechanic had requested the owner/pilot perform engine runs. The completion of this was confirmed by the pilot/owner by telephone. The annual was signed off by the mechanic on February 12, 2013, at an hour meter time of 1,732 hours (airframe total time 2,933 hours).

On February 15, 2013, the pilot was planning to fly to Imperial County Airport, Imperial, California. The pilot said he departed with 42 gallons of fuel in the main tank. He thought his flight time would be about 1 hour, and the airplane had an average fuel burn rate of 20 gallons per hour. As he approached his destination, both engines "quit" simultaneously. He turned on both fuel boost pumps, and both engines restarted. After about 1 minute they shut down once again. He performed a forced landing to a freshly irrigated carrot field. During the landing roll, in the soft, muddy field, the left wing sustained substantial damage.

Postaccident recovery of the airplane, in the presence of a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, revealed no fuel in the airplane's tanks and no indications of fuel leaks. The lack of damage to both propellers indicated that the engines were not running at the time of touch down. The airplane's Hobbs meter read 1,733.5, indicating that the airplane had flown 1.5 hours since the annual inspection.

A friend of the pilot, who had a hangar next to the pilot's hangar at Chino Airport, reported that the airplane had two nacelle fuel tanks and two wing tip tanks that fed to a single main fuel tank, which was located in the right wing root. After the accident, he asked the pilot if he had "stuck" the main fuel tank before flight to determine the quantity of fuel, and the pilot replied "no, because he had plenty of fuel." The pilot told him that he thought it would take him less than 50 minutes to fly the 130-nautical-mile flight. The pilot also told him that he had encountered a 30-knot headwind on the flight and that he had mistakenly programmed his GPS for the Imperial VORTAC, which was about 7 nautical miles past the Imperial County Airport.

NTSB Probable Cause

A loss of engine power during cruise flight due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s inadequate preflight and fuel planning.