The private pilot departed on a cross-country personal flight with five
passengers, en route to an Alaskan coastal community. The airplane had
about 140 gallons of usable fuel aboard. The flight's intended destination
was located about 757 nautical miles away. The pilot planned to make one
stop in order to purchase fuel before continuing on to the destination
airport. As the accident flight progressed towards the intended fuel stop
airport, the pilot requested to continue on to another airport located
about 100 miles away, and closer to the final destination airport. As the
flight neared the second fuel stop airport, the pilot again made a request
to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) specialist on duty, and said, in part:
"I'm going to change my destination ah...one more time, this will be the
final time..." The flight was then cleared to the pilot's intended destination
airport. When the flight was about 22 miles southeast of the destination
airport, the pilot informed the ATC specialist that he was concerned about
his remaining fuel. He stated, in part: " ... I'm really low on fuel, and
still 30 miles out." When asked by the ATC specialist how much fuel he
had remaining, the pilot responded by saying: " Well... lets see, its very
low... Below 5 gallons in both tanks." The ATC specialist then informed
the pilot of an alternate airport that was located closer to the flight's
present position, but the pilot was not familiar with the airport, and
he elected to proceed on. Shortly thereafter, the pilot reported to the
ATC specialist he was "...out of gas, both engines." The pilot selected
a forced landing site located about 12 miles short of his intended destination
airport, in open ocean waters. According to the two surviving passengers,
after the collision with the water, all of the airplane's occupants lost
consciousness momentarily. When the two survivors regained consciousness,
there was about 2 feet of water in the airplane, and the airplane was sinking.
The survivors said four of the six occupants successfully evacuated the
airplane into the water. They added that the pilot was one of the four
occupants who exited the sinking airplane. The two remaining occupants
remained inside the airplane as it sank. The four survivors then began
to swim to the closest shoreline, located about 1 mile from the accident
site. During the swim to shore, the two surviving occupants became separated
from the other two other occupants. To date, neither the two occupants
who remained in the airplane, nor the pilot and the one occupant who were
able to exit the airplane before it sank, have been located.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s)
of this accident as follows:
The pilot's inadequate in-flight decision making process, and failure
to refuel the airplane prior to fuel exhaustion, which resulted in a total
loss of engine power. A factor associated with the accident was the lack
of a suitable forced landing site.