N30SHPiper PA-30 · 1966

On October 29, 2021, about 1600 central daylight time, a Piper PA-30, N30SH, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Waverly, Tennessee. The pilot and the two passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot said he departed Music City Executive Airport (XNX), Gallatin, Tennessee, about 1540, on a cross-county flight in his twin-engine airplane and set the fuel selector to the auxiliary tanks. About 7-10 minutes into the flight, the auxiliary tanks ran out of fuel and the pilot switched the fuel selector handles to the main tanks, which the fuel gauge indicated were a ¼-full. The pilot elected to divert and land at the Humphrey’s County Airport (0M5), Waverly, Tennessee, for fuel. When the airplane was on a four-mile final approach to land, the left engine stopped producing power, and the pilot feathered the engine. About 30 seconds later, the right engine stopped producing power. The pilot was unable to maintain altitude and made a forced landing to a field. The airplane struck a hay bale, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage and wings.

On-scene examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed the right wingtip fuel tank, auxiliary fuel tank, and main fuel tank were not breached and were absent of fuel. The left wingtip fuel tank separated (but was not breached) with the portion of the wing and was empty of fuel. The left auxiliary and main fuel tanks were not breached and empty of fuel. Each of the tanks respective fuel caps were secure.

After the airplane was recovered from the accident site and the wings were removed, the inspector re-examined the airplane and noted the fuel line fitting to the right auxiliary tank was loose, stained blue/green, consistent with a fuel leak. The amount of fuel lost due to this leak could not determined. The staining was traced down the main wing spar to where it exited at the wing root area and a large fuel stain was observed on the exterior of the wing root. No other evidence of fuel leakage was observed.

The airplane was equipped with three fuel tanks in each wing: a main tank (30 total/26 useable), 15-gallon auxiliary tank, and a 15-gallon wingtip tank, for a total of 120 gallons total (114 useable). Each tank was independent of each other, so the leak in the right auxiliary fuel tank would have only affected the fuel level in that tank. The pilot reported that based on his recent fueling and flight history in the airplane, that he had about 55 gallons of fuel onboard when he departed. He said the airplane burned an average of 15 gallons per hour. Based on this information, if the right auxiliary tank was empty due to the leak, there still should have been about 40 gallons of fuel onboard (or about 2.6 hours of fuel).

The pilot said that he did not visually check the fuel quantity prior to flight because the airplane “…does not have a way to visually check the fuel and know how much fuel you have in the tanks.” However, the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) (section 4 – Normal Procedures – Walk Around Inspection) states, that the pilot should visually check the fuel supply in each tank before flight and to make sure each fuel cap is adjusted and secure. The pilot also reported that the fuel gauges for the main tanks were still indicating a ¼-full just before they both lost power.

The pilot said he was relatively new to flying this make/model airplane and thought the fuel gauges were fairly accurate. The pilot said that he would not have flown the airplane if he knew the right-wing auxiliary fuel line was leaking or that the fuel gauges were not indicating properly.