What happened
A twin-engine aircraft, traveling from San Diego, California, was performing a night instrument approach to Galveston, Texas, when the pilot notified air traffic control of a failure in the right engine. During this communication, the pilot also noted that the aircraft was running extremely low on fuel. In response to the emergency, controllers directed the aircraft toward the nearest airfield. However, approximately one mile northeast of the airport, the aircraft disappeared from radar.
An eyewitness reported seeing the plane enter a spin and descend in a nose-down orientation before striking the surface of a lake. The flight had been underway for 7 hours and 32 minutes at the time of the accident, which exceeded the 7-hour and 30-minute fuel endurance originally declared in the flight plan. There were 0 fatalities reported in the initial sequence of events, though the impact was severe.
Findings
Post-accident inspections of the twin-engine airplane showed that the landing gear had been deployed and the flaps were set to approximately 15 degrees. Notably, neither propeller had been feathered following the engine failure. Investigators found no evidence of mechanical issues prior to the impact. The investigation highlighted that the aircraft had exhausted its planned fuel supply by the time it reached the vicinity of the airport, as the elapsed flight time had surpassed the intended fuel endurance.