FAA Flight Standards District Office: FAA Wichita FSDO-64
NTSB Identification: CEN16LA129
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, March 18, 2016 in Wichita, KS
Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/16/2016
Aircraft: MOONEY M20C, registration: N9262M
Injuries: 2 Minor.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The private pilot reported that he conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane and noted that both fuel tanks were full. The pilot then took off for the personal cross-country flight. During approach to landing at the destination airport, the pilot extended the downwind leg due to inbound instrument flight rules traffic. The engine then suddenly lost power, and the pilot conducted a forced landing.
An examination of the wreckage revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies. The fuel tank selector was positioned to the left fuel tank, and the electric fuel pump was in the “off” position. No fuel was found in the left tank. There was no smell of fuel, no evidence of fuel spillage, and the fuel tank did not appear to have been breached. Some fuel, about 2 to 3 inches deep, was found in the right fuel tank. If the pilot had switched the fuel selector from the left to the right fuel tank and turned on the electric fuel pump, the engine would not have been starved of fuel.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, which resulted from the pilot's improper fuel management.
On March 18, 2016, about 1525 central daylight time, a Mooney M20C, N9262M, lost engine power while on approach to the Col. James Jabara Airport (AAO), Wichita, Kansas, and subsequently collided with terrain. The pilot and his passenger received minor injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the Sabris Corporation, Wichita, Kansas, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Dickson (M02), Tennessee, about 1130 was en route to AAO.
According to the pilot's statement, he had preflighted the airplane in M02 and noted that both fuel tanks were "filled to the rim." (According to the Mooney Aircraft Corporation, fuel capacity for the model M20C is 52 gallons, 26 gallons per wing tank). The flight to AAO was uneventful. Due to inbound IFR (instrument flight rules) traffic, the pilot extended the downwind leg for landing when the engine suddenly lost power. The pilot said he used the ALARMS (airspeed, landing site, air restart, radios, mayday, secure plane) checklist. The airplane was too far from the runway, so the pilot attempted to land on a golf course. He did not recall the forced landing and woke up in an ambulance en route to the hospital.
A Federal Aviation Administration inspector who examined the airplane reported finding "no discernible quantity of fuel in the left tank." The fuel selector was positioned on the left fuel tank, and the electric fuel pump was in the off position. When the airplane was placed in a level position, the inspector was not able to sump fuel from the left fuel tank, even with the electric fuel pump running, or from the fuel selector valve sump. Some fuel was noted in the right fuel tank. The inspector was able to sump fuel from the right fuel tank. The fuel level was about 2 to 3 inches in depth. There was no evidence of fuel spillage, and the fuel tanks did not appear to have been breached. There were no fuel stains on the ground or the smell of fuel around the airplane. No other anomalies or mechanical failures were noted.
Airplane damage consisted of a buckled lower fuselage from the engine cowling aft to the rear bulkhead. The firewall was bent. The right wing leading edge bore crush damage, and the main landing gear was pushed up through the wing. The flap was also bent.
NTSB Identification: CEN16LA129
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, March 18, 2016 in Wichita, KS
Aircraft: MOONEY M20C, registration: N9262M
Injuries: 2 Minor.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On March 18, 2016, about 1115 central daylight time, a Mooney M20C, N9262M, lost engine power while on approach to the Col. James Jabara Airport (AAO), Wichita, Kansas. The pilot and his passenger received minor injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the Sabris Corporation, Wichita, Kansas, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated from Dickson (M02), Tennessee, about 1130 was destined for AAO.
The pilot said he was on an extended downwind leg for landing when the engine suddenly lost power. He did not recall the forced landing. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector who examined the airplane reported finding no fuel in the left fuel tank. The fuel selector was positioned on the left tank. Some fuel was noted in the right fuel tank. The auxiliary fuel pump switch was off. There was no evidence of fuel spillage on the ground.
Nicole Klusner and Christian Dell
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Christian Dell and Nicole Klusener.WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) -- Christian Dell and Nicole Klusener say they're thankful to be alive as a pilot's greatest fear came to life.
The Andover teens crashed a private plane onto Tallgrass Country Club after the aircraft's engine gave out Friday afternoon.
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"We were just coming back from a Spring break trip in Nashville," Dell said.
Dell and Klusener were getting close to their landing point at Jabara Airport when something went horribly wrong.
"We've got an engine failure," Dell called into the Wichita tower. "We're trying to make it to final."
The rental plane's engine gave out as the couple was making their decent.
"I was just like, looking at Christian hoping that he knew what to do and I was praying to God," Klusener said.
"At that point it's all kind of flashback to training," Dell said.
Dell says he flew the four-seat plane right over the top of some houses lining the 14th hole of the golf course; then they clipped a tree before crashing into the ground.
"We're being told this is a small private aircraft the landed on the golf course, there are several occupants, looks like they were getting out of the plane, but injured," a 911 dispatcher scratched over the radio.
Dell says if it hadn't been for a sand trap they would have landed fairly smoothly, but instead they crashed hard. Both smashed their heads against the dash leaving them concussed and the rest of the story very foggy.
"He got out and was walking around, had blood coming out of his eyes," Klusener said.
Now that both are out of the hospital and have had time to reflect, the couple realizes how close they came to losing it all while Dell did everything he could to prevent the emergency landing from harming others.
"It's fortunate that no one else got hurt," he said.
"He did his job and that's how we're alive right now," Klusener said.
Dell says his two years of flying experience helped him keep calm during a frightening ordeal. They are still waiting for the results of the ongoing FAA investigation as to what went wrong with the rental plane's engine.
Story and video: http://www.kake.com
Two high school seniors are recovering from various injuries after their rental plane experienced engine failure and crashed on the way home from a spring-break vacation.
Certified pilot Christian Dell, 17, and his girlfriend, Nicole Klusner, 18, had saved up their money to rent a small aircraft for a few days of fun in Nashville, Tennessee.
The nearly two-hour journey home was smooth sailing until the last leg of the flight. "It just started spluttering and it ultimately failed," Dell said.
Klusner said, "I didn't know what to do or what was going on. The first thing I thought about were my parents."
"I was just looking at him [Dell], trusting he knew what to do and praying to God that we were going to be OK," she added.
Indeed, Dell's emergency training kicked in as he missed homes and power lines, and dodged trees, eventually crash landing the plane on the 14th hole of a golf course.
Residents who saw the rough landing ran to the rescue, getting both teens out and off to the hospital where they were treated for concussions and head injuries.
Klusner praised her boyfriend for his skills: "He just did his job and that's how we're alive right now."
Wichita Police Department Lt. Paul Duff told reporters, "From what I was told, the pilot did an excellent job."
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what went wrong.
Story and video: http://abcnews.go.com
Two teens who crash landed at a Wichita golf course are out of the hospital.
The owner of the plane says the engine failed Friday afternoon, forcing the 17-year-old pilot to make an emergency landing at the Tallgrass Golf Course.
Despite concussions, broken bones, and scrapes and bruises, both Andover High School seniors involved in the plane crash say they're doing well.
"As far as plane crashes go, how I'm feeling - it's pretty good. Thankful for that," said Christian Dell, the pilot of the plane.
Christian was flying, and his girlfriend Nicole Klusener, 18, was passenger.
The two teens saved up money to rent the Mooney M20C for a trip to Nashville over spring break.
They were almost home when something went wrong.
"The whole flight, it was pretty noisy. We had headphones on but it was still loud. And then it just went silent. Like the engine just stopped and we were just like, oh no," Nicole said.
"So I decided we were going to make it to the runway. I turned back and there was just no way we were going to get there," Christian said.
Christian had to think quickly.
We an engine failure, made an emergency landing, missed a house... we almost hit the house, and we clipped the top of a tree I think, and we landed on the golf course there, Nicole Klusener said.
"He opened the door and was pushing me out a little and we were just crawling around and we had no idea what kind of state we were in. And the ladies from some of the houses came up and told us their names and that we were going to be okay," she said.
The owner of the plane says the way Christian responded is likely what saved their lives.
"In talking to the pilot and looking at the airplane, you can see that the pilot did everything right," said David Dewhirst, president of Sabris Corporation and owner of the plane. "The praise should go to the pilot for the manner to which he handled this emergency," he said.
"It was pretty much just all training. I don't really remember much from the approach. It all just kicked in," Christian said.
Both Christian and Nicole say they feel lucky.
"There's definitely that, 'it's never going to happen to me.' But it did. We're just glad nobody else got hurt and we were fortunate enough to walk away," Christian said.
"That could've happened 5,000 feet in the air, and we would've had no chance probably. But it happened when we were getting ready to land on the runway. So we were already getting lower to the ground and slowing down. God was watching over us for sure," Nicole said.
The FAA and NTSB are still investigating what caused the plane's engine to fail.
The owner of the plane is still working with insurance companies to figure out the best way to remove the plane from Tallgrass Country Club.
Story and video: http://www.kwch.com
WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) — Two teens were hurt when a small plane crashed onto golf course in northeast Wichita.
The crash was reported just before 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Tallgrass golf course northwest of 21st and Webb Road. Wichita police said the single-engine Mooney M20C had engine trouble on the way back from Nashville, Tennessee. The engine reportedly stalled, requiring an emergency landing.
"I saw through the window a really low plane, and I thought it was going to hit the neighbors' roofs," Nikki Womack said. "So I immediately ran to the back of the house, and I saw it just nosedive into the middle of the golf course."
Police said the two teens, ages 17 and 18, suffered minor injuries. Their injuries were originally thought to be more serious.
The FAA aircraft registry reports the plane is owned by Sabris Corp., a Wichita-based firm that offers flight training and a variety of other aviation services, according to the Wichita Business Journal.
The two teens were renting the plane. Sabris said the pilot has a lot of experience and went through some training with them.
"I was told the pilot did an excellent job at what he did," said Wichita Police Lt. Paul Duff. "We did check the area and no homes have been hit."
Original article can be found here: http://www.kake.com
WICHITA, Kan. -
UPDATE (5:30): Police said in a briefing it is too early to tell if there was damage to the golf course.
Police say the FAA is on scene conducting an investigation.
Police say the two teens in the plane are doing all right. We're told their conditions have been downgraded from earlier in the day, when the injuries were said to be critical.
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UPDATE (4:30): An 18-year-old female and 17-year-old male are hospitalized after a plane crash at Tallgrass Country Club. The 18-year-old has potentially critical injuries. The 17-year-old went to the hospital with potentially serious injuries.
Crews were called to the scene in the 2400 block of N. Green Leaf at around 3:25 pm Friday.
We expect emergency officials to give a press conference with details about what happened.
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Sedgwick County dispatch says two people suffered injuries in the emergency landing.
Dispatch says one person suffered serious injuries while the other suffered critical. Both are going to Wesley Medical Center for treatment.
Dispatch says the plane landed in the backyard of a home near the golf course.
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Emergency crews are en route to Tallgrass Country Club, where there is a report of a plane crash.
The country club is located at 2400 N. Tallgrass St. in Wichita.
Original article can be found here: http://www.kwch.com
WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita firefighters are responding to the scene of a small-plane emergency landing on the Tallgrass Golf Course near the 2400 block of E. Greenleaf Court.
Officials report that the plane, a Mooney M20C, landed on its belly and no leaks were found by hazmat teams.
Two people were reportedly being treated for minor injuries, though officials now say one may have more serious injuries.
Molly Brewer (@MollyBrewerKSN) is on the scene and reports that police have the neighborhood blocked to all traffic, including residents.
Original article can be found here: http://ksn.com
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