What happened
During the cruise phase of flight, approximately 15 minutes before reaching the intended destination, the pilot observed the low fuel warning light illuminate within the cockpit. Roughly 10 minutes later, the engines began to sputter and subsequently lost all power.
During the attempt to land, the pilot executed an approach that was described as being too fast for the runway conditions. The aircraft bounced upon touchdown, at which point the landing gear was retracted. While searching for a suitable landing site such as a road or field, the aircraft eventually came to rest on a frozen pond after encountering trees during the descent.
Findings
An investigation into the accident determined that the aircraft was operating with an extremely low fuel volume, specifically containing less than 2 gallons of fuel at the time of the incident. The primary contributing factor was fuel exhaustion.
Additional findings indicated several errors in the pilot's preflight responsibilities, including:
- Inadequate fuel supply management
- Errors in calculating fuel consumption
- Improper preflight planning and preparation by the pilot in command
- Impact with trees during the forced landing sequence