N81917Piper PA-28-161 · 1982

Originally the pilot was going to depart earlier on the day of the accident and had planned to stop enroute to his destination for more fuel. After receiving a weather briefing he decided instead to delay his departure until later that evening due to the possibility of thunderstorms being present at his time of arrival in the vicinity of his destination airport. Prior to departure that evening he had the fuel tanks filled to capacity. During the flight despite his previous flight planning, he did not stop for more fuel. When he was approximately 64 miles from his destination, he noticed that his fuel gauges were indicating that he had less fuel than he anticipated. Upon arrival at his destination he flew an instrument approach and advised air traffic control that he was fuel critical, as he had exceeded his estimated flight time, his fuel gauges were indicating a low fuel state, and other aircraft were also landing. Due to the visibility, he was unable to see the runway environment and executed a missed approach. He was then instructed by Air Traffic Control to climb to 2,000 feet above mean sea level (msl). During the climb the engine lost power and the airplane began to descend. The pilot executed the engine restart procedure and was able to get the engine to restart. He then began climbing back up to 2,000 feet msl however, the engine lost power again. The airplane once again began to descend but this time; the pilot was unable to get the engine to restart. The airplane then struck trees and came to rest after falling approximately 20 feet to the ground. Total duration of flight was approximately 4 hours and 43 minutes. Post-accident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the firewall and left wing were substantially damaged and both fuel tanks were absent of fuel. There was no evidence of any preimpact mechanical failure or malfunction of the airplane or engine. Correlation of radar and weather data revealed that the pilot for the majority of the flight would have encountered headwinds. The airplane was also not equipped with wheel fairings which according to the manufacturer would have further reduced its range by up to 7 percent. When asked how the accident occurred by a state trooper, the pilot advised him that he had run out of fuel.