NTSB Factual Report

On August 8, 2014, about 1700 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-180, N4286T, was damaged during a forced landing following a loss of engine power near Sulphur, Louisiana. The pilot was not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage including buckling of the fuselage and wing structure and separation of the landing gear. The aircraft was registered to and operated by the pilot as a public use flight. The flight was contracted by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary as an observation flight and the pilot was returning to his home airport when the accident occurred. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The flight originated from the Chennault International Airport (CWF), Lake Charles, Louisiana at 1640. The Orange County Airport (ORG), Orange, Texas, was the intended destination.

The pilot reported that the he originally flew the airplane from ORG to CWF where he picked up a passenger. He then flew to an area about 35 miles south of CWF (Deep Lake) and then returned to CWF before departing on the accident flight. He reported that the airplane's engine lost power about 5 minutes after takeoff from CWF. He stated that he attempted to restart the engine but the starter would not engage. He executed a landing on a highway. During the landing, the airplane's landing gear collapsed resulting in damage to both wings and the engine firewall.

In a separate statement, the pilot reported that the airplane departed ORG with full fuel tanks, less a small amount used during previous maintenance. He stated that the entire flight from ORG to CWF to Deep Lake to CWF, and the accident leg were flown using only fuel from the left fuel tank. The pilot provided a photo of a GPS flight plan that indicated the calculated fuel usage to be about 15.4 gallons.

According to the airplane manufacturer, the airplane had a total fuel capacity of 50 gallons (25 gallons in each tank), with about 3 pints of unusable fuel.

A first responder to the accident, who holds an airline transport category pilot certificate, examined the airplane shortly after the accident. He stated that he removed the fuel tank caps and observed no fuel in the left fuel tank and full fuel in the right fuel tank. He also examined the fuel selector valve in the cockpit and found it to be positioned for the left fuel tank. He stated that no fuel was present on the ground or leaking from the airplane.

During recovery of the airplane about 22 gallons of fuel was drained from the right wing fuel tank and about 3 ounces of fuel was drained from the left wing fuel tank.

The airplane's engine was examined after the accident and the starter operated and engaged the engine flywheel. Both magnetos produced spark on all cylinders. The air inlet to the carburetor was clean and unobstructed. Cylinder compression was felt during rotation of the engine on all cylinders. Due to safety concerns arising from the damage that the airplane had incurred an engine test run was not attempted, however, no preimpact anomalies were detected.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot’s failure to properly manage the airplane’s fuel supply, which led to fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power.