ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205507
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| Date: | Tuesday 24 July 1990 |
| Time: | 14:18 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-31-310 Navajo |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | VH-EDL |
| MSN: | 31-250 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1968 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | 3km SE of Jackson, QLD -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Cunnamulla, QLD |
| Jackson, QLD | |
| Investigating agency: | BASI |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The aircraft operator employed two Navajo aircraft on regular crew changes at oil exploration sites. On 23 July 1990, one of these aircraft had become unserviceable at Cunnamulla and the operator then hired a piper PA-31-310, registered VH-EDL, to pick up the next day's work. This aircraft was to be flown to Cunnamulla by an engineer who would repair the faulty aircraft and return to Archerfield in that aircraft. One of the operator's pilots would then accept the replacement aircraft and continue the charter to Jackson. At Cunnamulla, the two pilots negotiated that the fuel quantity in VH-EDL was adequate for the flight to Jackson, however the fuel quantity could not be visually observed due to wing dihedral. The aircraft was not fuelled at Cunnamulla as indicated on the flight plan. Whilst en route to Jackson, the pilot became increasingly concerned about the fuel state of the aircraft. He selected the auxiliary tanks but noticed that the gauges were indicating empty and assumed that these tanks were empty. The pilot then re-selected the main tanks as his employer did not favour allowing the tanks to be run dry due to passenger considerations. He considered diverting to an alternate strip but decided to continue to Jackson. At about 1400 feet above ground and 3km from the Jackson strip the left engine began to surge and then stopped, followed by the other engine a short time later. The pilot elected to land the aircraft in an area of river channels. During the landing, the aircraft impacted trees and ran through a washout. Investigation revealed that the outboard tanks contained between 28 and 30 litres of fuel and that the inboard tanks were dry. No evidence of a fuel leakage was found.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1990/aair/aair199003088/
https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/34048/aair199003088.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Feb-2018 09:27 | Pineapple | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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