NTSB Factual Report

On February 16, 2013, at 1703 central standard time, the pilot of a Bellanca 17-30A, N93747, was substantially damaged during a forced landing on a road after the airplane lost engine power near Morris Municipal Airport (C09), Morris, Illinois. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight originated from C09 at 1644.

According to the pilot’s accident report, the purpose of the flight was to give his son, also a private pilot, an orientation ride in the Bellanca, and he allowed him to fly the airplane. They made one touch-and-go landing on runway 36. As they turned from downwind onto the base leg for the second landing, the engine lost power. The airplane was about 1,400 feet msl (above mean sea level), in landing configuration, and 3 miles for the runway. The pilot took control of the airplane from his son and made a forced landing on a road about 4 miles south of the airport. During the landing roll, the airplane’s right wing struck a wooden road sign. The airplane swerved to the right, went off the road, and came to a stop in a plowed field. Postaccident examination revealed both wings were punctured, and the nose and right main landing gear had collapsed.

The pilot said that on February 15, 2013, the day before the accident, he had flown from Meadow Lake Airport (KFLY), Colorado Springs, Colorado, to C09. He said that prior to departure, the airplane had been fueled to capacity (79 gallons total, 75 gallons useful), and that the flight took an estimated 5 hours and 30 minutes to complete. He estimated his fuel consumption to be 11.5 gallons per hour. The airplane was not refueled after arriving at C09 or before the accident flight.

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector responded to the accident site. He reported finding only residual fuel in the left and right wing tanks. No other anomalies were found with the airplane. The inspector removed the Insight Instrument Corporation’s G3 engine monitoring system from the airplane and downloaded the data. The data revealed a drop in fuel flow, manifold pressure and oil pressure, consistent with fuel flow interruption, then fuel exhaustion. The flight lasted 18 minutes, 56 seconds.

According to FlightAware.com, the flight from KFLY to C09 took 5 hours and 46 minutes to complete, and the estimated fuel burn was a minimum of 12 gallons per hour. The cruise profile depicted 2 hours flown at 15,000 feet, then a descent to 5,000 feet, then a climb to 10,000 feet for the duration rest of the flight, or 2.5 hours. This was corroborated by the Insight Instrument Corporation’s G3 engine monitoring system data.

The FAA inspector prepared and submitted a Preflight Planning Tool, in which he computed the 754-mile flight would take 5 hours and 23 minutes to complete and consume 67 gallons of fuel. This would leave approximately 4 gallons per fuel tank for the accident flight.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.