Piper J3C 65 N92653 accident near Southside, West Virginia

Probable cause

The pilot’s exhaustion of the airplane’s fuel supply, which resulted in a total loss of engine power. Contributing to the outcome was the pilot’s failure to secure the engine before the forced landing.

NTSB analysis

While on a multileg, cross-country flight, the commercial pilot purchased fuel at an intermediate destination. He then departed for the next planned flight leg. The pilot reported that, during that flight leg, the engine stopped producing power while the airplane was in cruise flight. The pilot chose a drag strip for the forced landing, and, during the descent, the engine restarted briefly but then stopped for the remainder of the descent. The pilot stated that he did not secure the engine during the descent because he was focused on reaching the forced landing area. The pilot further stated that, during the landing flare, the engine surged to "cruise power." The airplane then struck a guardrail, nosed over, and came to rest inverted. Although the pilot planned for the flight to be 90 minutes long, time-stamped fuel receipts and a witness statement indicating that the airplane departed immediately after it was refueled showed that the airplane was actually aloft for about 2 hours 30 minutes when the engine power loss occurred.

The pilot reported that fuel was leaking from the airplane after it came to rest; however, a witness reported that he did not see or smell fuel at the accident site, and examination of the accident site did not reveal any evidence of a fuel spillage or blighting to surrounding vegetation. Additionally, there was no odor of fuel at the accident site, and no fuel was found in the fuel tank.

The airplane was equipped with a 12-gallon fuel tank, and engine performance charts illustrated that the fuel consumption rate was between 5.4 and 5.8 gallons per hour. Given the estimated fuel consumption rate and the amount of time the airplane was in flight and that no evidence of fuel was found at the accident site, it is likely that the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion. Because the pilot had not secured the engine during the descent, it likely surged during the landing due to the sudden change in the airplane's attitude during the landing flare, which would have led to the residual fuel within the tank being suddenly reintroduced to the engine and allowed it to briefly produce power.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA15LA287 for the full record.