N740FTPiper PA-44-180 · 1978

On September 12, 2021, at 1051 central daylight time, a Piper PA-44-180 airplane, N740FT, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Magnolia, Texas. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot stated that during the preflight inspection, the fuel gauges indicated 17 gallons of fuel in both the left and right tanks. He then visually inspected each tank and confirmed fuel was present. After takeoff, he climbed to 2,000 ft mean sea level (msl) and flew about 15 minutes to the destination airport, about 34 miles northwest, where he completed one full stop landing. He departed and proceeded back to the original airport. About 10 minutes into the return flight, the left engine experienced a loss of power, then 5 minutes later the right engine experienced a loss of power. He attempted to execute an emergency landing to a road but struck a tree during the descent.

The pilot rented the airplane from a local business and did not fuel the airplane before takeoff.

The responding Federal Aviation Administration inspector reported that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, and both wings. The fuel tanks were not breached during the accident sequence and neither tank contained evidence of fuel. There was no evidence of fuel on the ground near the airplane. A mechanic confirmed that there was no fuel found in either fuel tank, about 4 to 6 oz of fuel was drained from the left carburetor and there was no fuel in the right carburetor. There were no preimpact anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

The dispatch sheets and discrepancy logs from the five previous flights did not reveal any anomalies with the fuel gauges, fuel system, or fuel consumption.

A postaccident fuel consumption calculation was completed, which revealed that the pilot had departed with a total of about 14 gallons of fuel. Based on an average fuel consumption rate of 17 gallons per hour, the airplane would have contained less than 1.5 gallons of fuel at the accident site. The airplane’s manual states that the fuel tanks have 2 gallons of total unusable fuel.

On August 1, 2012, about 1715 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-44-180, N740FT, operated by Space Coast Aviation, was substantially damaged when the nose landing gear collapsed during landing at the Space Coast Regional Airport (TIX), Titusville, Florida. The flight instructor, a private pilot, and a passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed Merritt Island Airport (COI), Merritt Island, Florida. The instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

According to the flight instructor, the airplane had various landing gear issues during the week prior to the accident, which included a faulty nose gear indicator light the day prior. While practicing instrument landing system approaches at TIX, the nose gear indicator light did not indicate down and locked; however, the flight instructor observed that the nose gear was extended. He cycled the landing gear without any changes to the nose gear indicator light and subsequently attempted to land on runway 36. The airplane initially touched down on the main landing gear; however, as the nose landing gear touched down, it began to collapse. The airplane came to rest about 2,500 feet from the approach end of the runway, and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage around the nose gear.

Postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the nose landing gear eccentric bushing, which engaged the downlock hook was out-of-adjustment. In addition, a check of the hydraulic system fluid reservoir dipstick revealed that the fluid level was below an amount that could be observed on the dipstick. After the hydraulic system fluid reservoir was properly serviced and the eccentric bushing adjusted, the landing gear functioned normally.

According to company maintenance records, the airplane had been operated for about 10 hours since its most recent 100 hour inspection, which was performed on July 20, 2012. In addition, the accident flight was the airplane's first flight after it was released from maintenance which included a landing gear inspection and operational check.