What happened
During the third leg of a four-part journey, a non-scheduled passenger flight departed with one passenger on board. Roughly 13 minutes into the flight, the pilot notified air traffic control that the aircraft was in a fuel-critical state and requested navigation vectors toward the closest airport, located approximately 7 miles away. Shortly thereafter, both engines suffered a complete loss of power. The pilot was forced to execute an emergency landing on a street situated about 2 miles from the airfield. During the descent and impact, the aircraft struck two vehicles.
Findings
Post-accident inspections of the aircraft identified significant damage to the fuel tanks, including evidence of a small fire located near the left wingtip tank. Investigation into the fuel levels indicated that the aircraft had consumed approximately 100 gallons of fuel since its last refueling, which matched the total capacity of the main wingtip tanks. At the time of the incident, the fuel selectors were positioned to draw from these main tanks.
Analysis suggests that the pilot exhausted the fuel available in the main tanks, leading to engine starvation. While the initial fuel load at takeoff was not precisely known, calculations showed that if the tanks had been at full capacity, approximately 63 gallons should have remained in the auxiliary tanks. Although the auxiliary tanks were breached during the collision, there was no evidence of mechanical engine failure or malfunctions that would have prevented the engines from operating normally had fuel been present.