What happened
Roughly five hours and fifteen minutes into the flight, the pilot contacted Approach Control to request landing. A few minutes following this initial radio communication, the pilot notified controllers that the aircraft had run out of fuel. Although the pilot was provided with radar vectors directing the plane toward the nearest airport, radio and radar contact were lost seconds later.
An Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) signal was detected by another aircraft operating near the site of the accident approximately two minutes after contact was lost. A ground search operation located the wreckage the following morning.
The investigation
Post-accident examination of the airframe revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunction or failures in related component assemblies. Investigators recovered approximately 1/2 gallon of fuel from the right fuel tank, and the left fuel tank was found to be ruptured. During a functional engine check, the engine was observed to operate up to 1700 rpm.