Champion 7ECA accident near Talkeetna, Alaska, September 21, 2015

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The airline transport pilot reported that, before the flight, he topped off both fuel tanks. The pilot subsequently began conducting stop-and-go and touch-and-go landings at a local airport to gain tailwheel time. He reported that, after takeoff from a stop-and-go landing, the engine suddenly failed. The pilot attempted to troubleshoot the loss of engine power but was unsuccessful. During the forced landing beyond the departure end of the runway, the airplane's wings struck trees, and the fuselage impacted terrain at a steep, left-wing-low attitude. The pilot reported that, at the time of the total loss of engine power, he had 1 hour of fuel remaining, the left wing fuel gauge was covered by headliner material and was not visible, and the right fuel gauge indicated a quarter full. The pilot added that, during the flight, the engine "ran rough" a few times and that, once during the flight, the engine "dropped a couple of hundred revolutions per minute." The owner/operator reported that, during rental operations, customers were informed "to plan on a 7 gallon per hour fuel burn" and that the airplane had a 26-gallon fuel capacity. He estimated that the pilot had been operating the airplane for just over 4 hours at the time of the accident. Despite the pilot's statement, during examination of the wreckage at the accident site, no usable fuel was found in the fuel tanks, and no fuel was found on the ground. Based on the evidence, the pilot did properly calculate the fuel consumption rate, likely failing to take into account the extra fuel burned during the multiple touch-and-go and stop-and-go landings, and he did not properly monitor the fuel in flight, which led to him continuing to fly the airplane until the fuel was exhausted despite signs of an engine problem and resulted in the subsequent total loss of engine power.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.