Beech E-55 accident near Lopez, WA
On July 2, 2005, a Beech E-55 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Lopez, WA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- July 2, 2005
- Place
- Lopez, WA
- Aircraft
- Beech E-55 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 2 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 48.484°N, 122.938°W
- NTSB ID
- 20050707X00955
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On July 1, 2005, about 1855 Pacific daylight time, a Beech E-55 twin-engine airplane, N686T, experienced a loss of power from both engines and ditched in ocean waters near Lopez Island, Washington, about 8 miles southeast of the flight's planned destination of Friday Harbor, Washington. The airplane, which was registered to a private individual and operated by the commercial pilot, was destroyed by impact damage and immersion in salt water. Of the five people aboard, two passengers sustained fatal injuries, the pilot and one passenger sustained serious injuries, and one passenger sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal cross country flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed from Redmond, Oregon, about 1713. In a written statement submitted to the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC), the pilot reported that on the afternoon of July 1, 2005, he and one of his passengers (who was a private pilot) pulled the airplane out of its hangar at Roberts Field in Redmond and conducted a pre-flight inspection. He explained that "the way to visually inspect the fuel level on this plane is to check the float gauges on the wing, which for the past eleven years of ownership, [have] been pin-point accurate. The left engine had 45 gallons (3 hours) and the right engine had 55 gallons (3:45 hours), and both engines had 11 qts. of oil. This was a sufficient amount of fuel for an hour and fifty minute flight." The pilot reported that the flight from Redmond to Friday Harbor proceeded uneven
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane which resulted in a dual loss of engine power during normal descent due to fuel exhaustion. A contributing factor was the incorrect installation of the left and right wing fuel sight gage/float assemblies by unknown persons, resulting in a false indication on the wing fuel sight gages.
More accidents in WA
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Browse: Washington · Beech aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
