On March 5, 2020, a Piper PA-23-250, N335W, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Stanley County Airport (KVUJ) in Albermarle, North Carolina. The airline transport pilot and pilot receiving instruction were not injured.
According to an FAA inspector, the owner of the airplane was not onboard during the accident flight, but was taking a video recording of the takeoff.
The owner did not possess a multiengine rating. The owner’s flight instructor was seated in the left seat, receiving a check out in the make and model airplane from the pilot-in-command (PIC) flight instructor seated in the right seat. After the check out, the owner’s flight instructor could then provide training to the owner.
The accident flight also was the first flight after an annual inspection. Additionally, the airplane was completely fueled prior to the flight.
According to the PIC, during initial climb, about 200 feet above ground level, the pilot receiving instruction was the pilot flying. The PIC noticed a decrease in airspeed and the pilot receiving instruction stated that the engines were losing power. The PIC immediately made sure the mixture levers were full rich, and the propeller and manifold levers were full forward. He also switched on the electric fuel pumps, which had not been turned on prior to takeoff.
The PIC added the electric fuel pump switches were on the far left of the instrument panel and he was unable to see their position prior to the loss of engine power. The PIC added that he believed that was the mistake that caused the dual loss of engine power.
The PIC then coached the pilot receiving instruction to push forward on the yoke to retain airspeed, however, the airplane was too fast to land back on the remaining runway. The engines never fully recovered power and they climbed over trees at the end of the runway before making a hard landing in a muddy field.
Examination of the accident site by the FAA inspector revealed that during impact with the field, the airplane slid for about 190 feet. The left main landing gear separated and the nose gear collapsed, followed by the airplane rotating 180° before coming to rest upright. The inspector observed damage to the left wing spar, left wheel well, nose wheel well, and lower fuselage.
Review of the video corroborated the pilots’ statements.
Review of checklists in an owner’s manual and airplane flight manual revealed instructions in both to turn the electric fuel pumps on prior to takeoff.
Probable Cause: The pilots’ failure to ensure that the electric fuel pumps were on before takeoff, which resulted in a partial loss of power on both engines during initial climb.
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This March 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
There are any number of aircraft that require “fuel pumps On” for take-off and landings. Some are placarded and all have the information in the checklist. When dealing with modifications to aircraft with larger powerplants it is noted as well.
Low wing aircraft like the Cessna twins, Beech, Pipers require those pumps operating because the engine driven pumps are higher situated than the fuel in the tanks in many cases. So, the boost pumps are used to crowd those engine driven pumps for safety sake.
Note: Even some high wing singles and twins require boost pumps “On” for T.O. and landings.
Accidents of this type are not investigated by NTSB. Local FSDO inspector, frequently with little or no accident investigating experience/training, writes a report and passes it to the NTSB who rubber stamps it.
I know of one high performance homebuilt that ran out of fuel on takeoff and crashed fatally. Accident report states “engine failure for undetermined reasons”.
Another homebuilt fatal, control stick which obviously failed from impact damage, was identified as elevator pushrod.
The electric fuel boost pumps are for two reasons only, they are for starting the engine first thing in the day, and second is for take off and landing, they are just a back up in case the mechanical fuel pumps fails, they are for redundancy reasons only. Saying that the engines failed on takeoff was because of the boost pumps were not on is BS !!
This was clearly written by a lawyer. Who was the PIC, the left seat, right seat, or both.
Blame shifting was the goal of this report.
I agree with everyone else; not buying that “Probable Cause”.
Crew goofed up the PA-23-250 checklist STTO procedures a couple times. But mechanical pumps should have been sufficient w/o the electricals functioning as a pressure loss “back-up”.
Good thing it was an Aztec, the M1 Abrams MBT of twins: Rinse the mud off, weld the gear legs back on, pound the props straight with a sledge hammer & she’s good to go.
“Probable Cause: The pilots’ failure to ensure that the electric fuel pumps were on before takeoff, which resulted in a partial loss of power on both engines during initial climb.”
The NTSB then shows a report of the engine powered fuel pumps having passed the tests they sent them out for. The “Probable Cause” is just a rubber stamp, because those pumps did not fail.
I’m glad that there are more of us starting to look critically at the NTSB reports.
And it is probably because their reports, by law, are not valid in court and so can be cross examined (not an attorney, so I may not have phrased that exactly correctly), that they can rush to a cause, and it can even contradict the evidence as in this case.
Thr money is in the details
NTSB themselves never inspected or investigated this aircraft.
Upon testing by others no abnormalities or contaminations were found in any systems. The only condition was the electric pumps were off, although the mechanicals were operating within specs, so that apparently the culprit by default.
Induction ice and poor preflight and run-up as well as electric fuel pumps resulted accident.
Engine driven pumps were operating fine sounds like water more than electric pumps not turned on.
The engine driven fuel pumps tested within specifications. While it is standard procedure to turn on the electric boost pumps for takeoff and landing there is no reason for both engines to lose power because the boost pumps were off.
This accident was NOT properly investigated by qualified persons.