24 Sep 2019: Beech 35 B35

24 Sep 2019: Beech 35 B35 (N5277C) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Gresham, OR, United States

Probable cause

A total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the instructor’s inadequate in-flight fuel management.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On September 23, 2019, about 1754 Pacific daylight time, a Beech B35 airplane, N5277C, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Portland, Oregon. The flight instructor and the student pilot were seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 instructional flight. The flight instructor stated that the airplane was serviced to capacity with 24 gallons of fuel before the flight. The individual who refueled the airplane confirmed that he added fuel “to the bottom of the fuel caps.” A mechanic who had assisted starting the accident airplane before the flight stated that the airplane held short of the runway running its engine for about 30 minutes before taking off. The instructor stated that, while practicing maneuvers, the engine speed increased as though the propeller control had been moved full forward; shortly thereafter, the engine “audibly slowed down drastically.” The instructor stated that they cycled the propeller control and adjusted the throttle, but neither had any effect. The instructor subsequently performed a forced landing to a small field. Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the left-wing tank was full, and the right-wing tank was empty. The fuel selector was positioned to the right fuel tank. After the airplane was recovered, the FAA inspector examined the airplane again and stated that the right fuel tank appeared intact. The fuel selector operated normally when each detent was selected. Flight tracking data from a commercially available website indicated that the accident flight was about 1 hour and 19 minutes in duration. According to the Beech B35 Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH), each main fuel tank held about 17 gallons of usable fuel.

Contributing factors

  • cause Fluid management
  • cause Instructor/check pilot
  • cause Instructor/check pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.