Accident Overview
On September 11, 2020, about 0252 central daylight time, a Beech A36, registration N74HS, was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain near McKellar-Spies Regional Airport (MKL), Jackson, Tennessee. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
Pre-Accident Flight
The pilot flew the airplane from Charles W Baker Airport (2M8), Millington, Tennessee, to Dickson Municipal Airport (M02), Dickson, Tennessee, arriving about 2035 on September 10, 2020. Surveillance video from M02 showed that upon arrival, the airplane taxied to the fuel farm. The pilot exited, approached the fuel pump, then returned to the airplane, started it, and taxied to the parking area. The manager stated that the fuel farm was operated by the fixed-base operator (FBO) with a locked pump; a sign on the FBO door advised calling an after-hours number for fuel service.
Later, about 0200 on September 11, the airplane taxied back to the fuel farm. The pilot did not exit; the airplane idled for about 3 minutes then departed M02 at 0206. The pilot had filed a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan from M02 to 2M8.
In-Flight Fuel Issue
About 0248, the pilot requested a deviation from air traffic control to land at MKL, stating he was experiencing a fuel issue: “we’re just a little low on fuel.” The controller provided a heading vector and asked the pilot to report the airport in sight. The pilot turned to the new heading; flight track data showed a descent from about 6,000 ft. No further communications were received, and the last flight track data point was at 0252 at an altitude of 525 ft.
Wreckage and Examination
The airplane was located later that morning about 1.5 miles west of MKL in a wooded area. All major components were at the accident site. The engine, propeller, and nose gear separated at the firewall; the right wing separated near the fuselage. No fuel odor was present. The left fuel tank was empty and unbreached; the right fuel tank was breached. The fuel inlet line attached to the manifold valve was absent of fuel. A trace amount of fuel was found in the engine-driven fuel pump inlet line. Airframe and engine examination revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
A JPI engine data monitor recorded fuel flow rates: about 0245, flow dropped from 8.3 gallons per hour (gph) to 6 gph, then to 0. Fuel flowed intermittently at 0.2 to 0.4 gph until 0247, when flow dropped to 0 and remained until recording stopped at 0251.
Fuel Records
FAA inspectors collected fueling records and verified them with the pilot’s credit card statements. The last known refueling was on August 23, 2020, with 43.0 gallons of 100LL aviation fuel at 2M8. The airplane flew 5.1 hours between that refueling and the accident. Usable fuel capacity was 74 gallons, providing about 5 hours of flight time at a fuel burn rate of 15 gph.
Postmortem Examination
The Office of the Medical Examiner, Center for Forensic Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, performed the pilot’s autopsy. The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries; no significant natural disease was identified. Toxicological testing identified ethanol in femoral blood at 0.119 grams per deciliter (g/dL) and in vitreous at 0.149 g/dL; in cavity blood at 0.103 g/dL and vitreous at 0.156 g/dL. Ethanol is the intoxicating alcohol in beverages; it can impair judgment, psychomotor performance, cognition, perception, and vigilance. FAA regulation prohibits acting as a crewmember within 8 hours of consuming alcohol or with a blood ethanol level of 0.04 g/dL or greater. Ethanol can also be produced postmortem by microbial action.
Conclusion
The NTSB investigation did not assign a probable cause in the source document.