ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 166588
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Wednesday 28 May 2014 |
| Time: | 15:00 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee |
| Owner/operator: | Soaring Society of Boulder Inc. |
| Registration: | N8808L |
| MSN: | 25-5306 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 8847 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-540-B2C5 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | WNW of Boulder Municipal Airport (KBDU), Boulder, Colorado -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Banner and glider towing |
| Departure airport: | Boulder, CO (BDU) |
| Boulder, CO (BDU) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot reported that the accident occurred during his fifth glider aero-tow flight since the airplane had last been refueled. He stated that the aero-tow and glider release were uneventful. However, as he was returning to the departure airport, the engine began to run intermittently before it eventually experienced a total loss of engine power. During the subsequent forced landing, the airplane became entangled with a chain-link fence and impacted a road before it slid into a drainage ditch.
A postaccident examination of the airplane’s single fuel tank established that it was undamaged and void of any usable fuel. Before the first flight of the day, the airplane was refueled, and the total usable fuel was about 32.5 gallons. The airplane recording tachometer indicated that 2.2 tachometer hours had been accumulated since that time. Although the airplane operator reported that, according to historical fueling and flight data, the airplane’s average fuel consumption rate was about 10.2 gallons per tachometer hour, the calculated average fuel consumption rate was 14.8 gallons per tachometer hour since the last refueling. Although the total loss of engine power was caused by fuel exhaustion, the investigation could not determine the reason for the above-normal fuel consumption rate. However, if the pilot had determined the actual fuel consumption rate between flights, he should have identified that insufficient fuel was available to complete the accident flight.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to adequately monitor the airplane's actual fuel consumption rate, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 31 July 1995 | N8808L | Private | 0 | Shelley, ID | |
sub |
Location
Images:
Photo taken at the crash site ~30 minutes after the incident.
Media:
Another view of the plane crash near Iris and Foothills. The pilot was trying to make it back to the #Boulder airport pic.twitter.com/iMFNzDyUwj
— Alex Burness (@alex_burness) May 28, 2014Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-May-2014 22:44 | Geno | Added |
| 28-May-2014 22:46 | Geno | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 28-May-2014 22:52 | Geno | Updated [Source] |
| 29-May-2014 05:37 | harro | Updated [Embed code] |
| 30-May-2014 04:59 | Geno | Updated [Time, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 29-Nov-2017 14:24 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 23-Sep-2020 20:08 | Anon. | Updated [Embed code, Photo] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation