MIA07FA011

The flight instructor's inadequate preflight planning which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

During an instructional flight in a Beech BE-76, the flight instructor and student noted a total loss of power in the right engine. They declared an emergency to air traffic control (ATC), and initially flew toward their home airport, about 8 nautical miles away. The flight instructor and student pilot subsequently reported minimum fuel to ATC, and then diverted to a closer airport, as they believed that the airplane was about to lose power in the left engine. The airplane impacted a residential area about 1 nautical mile from the alternate airport. Examination of fueling records, operator records, and the student's pilot logbook revealed that the airplane flew about 3.3 hours since it was completely fueled; however, the operator records were incomplete, and any additional flights in the accident airplane during that time could not be verified. The airplane's fuel capacity was 103 total gallons, of which 3 gallons were unusable fuel. Review of engine manufacturer information revealed that each engine consumed about 10.5 gallons-per-hour at 75 percent power. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions, and no fuel was present throughout the fuel system.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT On November 1, 2006, about 1118 eastern standard time, a Beech BE-76 Duchess, N6017U, registered to Christiansen Aviation Inc., and operated by Aussie Air Inc., as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight, crashed in Port Orange, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The student and commercial-rated flight instructor received fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The flight originated in Daytona Beach, Florida, the same day, about 0945. The student and instructor were engaged in instrument training aboard N6017U, and had been in radio communications contact with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Daytona Beach Approach Control Arrival Radar North controller. They had performed approaches to include the very high frequency omni-directional range (VOR) runway 17 approach, at Ormond Beach, and thereafter the instructor had requested the "hold," followed by the non-directional beacon (NDB) runway 29 approach at New Smyrna Beach. After the approach at New Smyrna Beach, the instructor initiated contact with the Daytona Beach Approach Control Arrival Radar South controller, and was being vectored for the instrument landing system (ILS) runway 7L approach, to a full stop, at Daytona Beach. As the training flight progressed, the instructor and student were given a vector, and at 1110:55 were told to contact the Daytona Beach Tower Controller. According to the FAA Daytona Beach Airport Traffic Control Tower transcript of communications, at 1112:24, a crewmember on N6017U declared an emergency, stating, "we've had an engine failure." At 1112:28 the controller responded stating "... roger the closest airport is spruce creek off your right side or do you want to come to daytona." At 1112:33, the crewmember responded saying that they can come straight to Daytona, and can still maintain altitude. At 1112:37, the controller said, "okay you say you lost an engine", and at 1112:38, the crewmember responded, "that's affirmative." At 1112:40, the controller stated, "souls on board amount of fuel fly heading three six zero." At 1112:42, the crewmember responded saying, "okay we're close to a actual minimum fuel right now, i'm only on my right tank, so we looks like we lost our a right engine." After the crewmember provided information to the air traffic control (ATC) controller pertaining to souls onboard, the controller acknowledged, and informed the flight that Spruce Creek was two and a half miles behind, and that Daytona was about eight and a half miles. At 1113:18, the crewmember stated, "we're able to maintain altitude right now, and I think we should be okay." At 1113:32, the crewmember stated, "we're going to spruce creek we're about to lose our second engine." At 1113:37 the controller responded, "roger, spruce creek's right behind you four miles altimeter three zero zero five wind zero two zero at one zero gusting one four." The controller continued to provide information to the flight, and at 1114:05, the crewmember said that he saw Spruce Creek ahead and that they were headed there right now. At 1114:50, the crewmember said, "roger that we're heading over there we're about we're almost losing our second engine yet." As the flight progressed, the controller continued to provide the flight with information, and at 1116:34, the crewmember said, "roger I have spruce creek but I don't have the runway in sight." The controller provided assistance to the flight, and at 1117:25, the crewmember said "I can't see the runway six zero one seven uniform too low", which was the last communications transmission received from the crew aboard N6017U. A witness stated that about 1100, while he and his wife were in the front room of their house, he heard an airplane close, and it sounded like it was "right on top of them." He further stated that "the motor shut off, popped, and started again." He said they looked out the front window and saw the airplane "hit the ground pointing in a different direction..." A second witness stated that he was working outside and he heard an airplane's engine "backfire, start again, and then heard it crash across the road." He further stated that "some neighbors and I ran to the site, and the plane was burning, I cut the man's seatbelt with a knife I got from a guy who helped me drag him away from the plane." PERSONNEL INFORMATION Records obtained from the FAA showed that the student held an FAA private pilot certificate, with ratings for both single engine land and instrument airplane, issued on August 25, 2006. He also held an FAA first-class medical certificate, issued on June 9, 2005, with no stated limitations. According to the owner of the flight school, Aussie Air Inc., the student was enrolled in the flight school, and was attempting to obtain multiengine and instrument ratings. The student's logbook was found in the wreckage, and was mostly destroyed by fire, however a few pages were readable. The pages showed that he had accumulated about 230 hours of flight experience, of which about 30 hours were in the accident airplane. FAA records showed that the fight instructor/pilot in command (PIC) for the flight, held an FAA commercial pilot certificate, with ratings for airplane single and multiengine land, and instrument airplane, issued on September 13, 2005. He also held a flight instructor certificate, with rating for airplane single and multiengine land, and instrument airplane. Records also showed that he held an FAA first-class medical certificate, issued on August 6, 2004, with the stated limitation that he must wear corrective lenses. The flight instructor/PIC's logbook was not available to the National Transportation Safety Board, however copies of logbook pages and flight records were obtained from the owner/operator of the aircraft/ flight school, Aussie Air Inc., where he was employed. The company's records showed that the flight instructor had accumulated about 470 hours of total flight time, of which 353 hours were listed as flight experience while acting as pilot in command, 58 hours of instrument flight experience, 97 hours of multiengine experience, 43 hours of dual flight training given, and 21 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane. AIRCRAFT INFORMATION N6017U was a 1979 Beechcraft BE-76 Duchess, serial number ME-159. The airplane was equipped with two 180-horsepower four-cylinder O-360 Lycoming engines, mounted on each wing. Information obtained from the airplane's maintenance records showed that it had received an annual inspection on June 15, 2006, at which time it had an accumulated tachometer time of 8,763.1 total flight hours. According to information in the airplane's maintenance records, the airplane was 25.52 hours past due for the next 100-hour inspection at the time of the accident. Maintenance records showed that the left engine, serial number L-25451-36A, had been installed on October 19, 2000. At the time of the accident, the engine had accumulated about 8888.62 flight hours. The right engine, serial number RL-529-71A, had been installed on September 14, 2000. N6017U was also equipped with two two-bladed constant speed Hartzell propellers. The hub serial number of the propeller mounted on the left was FB1109A and the number on the right was FB1113A. METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The Daytona Beach International Airport, 1053, surface weather observation was, wind from 360 degrees at 11 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, few clouds at 2,600 feet, a broken layer at 6,500 feet, and an overcast layer at 6,500 feet, temperature 26 degrees Celsius (C), dew point temperature 19 degrees C, altimeter setting 30.05 inches of mercury (Hg), with remarks saying showers in the vicinity to the south-southeast. WRECKAGE