Skymaster Crash

[Pete Somers]

Just seen this on Landings.com


EAGLESWOOD, N.J -- Investigators continue to probe a deadly small plane crash in southern Ocean County Saturday.

Two men died and two others were seriously hurt when the plane went down just before 4 p.m. near Eagles Nest Airport in Eagleswood Township, about 25 miles north of Atlantic City.

State police say two men were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two on board, a man and a woman, were flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. The man has said he will be okay. The woman, however, is in critical condition.

The Cessna 337 Skymaster was registered to a Massachusetts man, identified as John Ambroult. He was the plane's pilot. The names of the others on board haven't been disclosed.

The plane had taken off from Millville Airport in Cumberland County about an hour before the crash occurred.

Stephen Williams, Director of Airports for the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which operates the Millville facility, says the plane was flying as part of a federal study of coastal birds and wind currents along the Jersey Shore.

[hharney]

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...00/1070/news02

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/1...ry/170860.html

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/1...ry/168830.html

Quite an amazing story on this crash. Try the links above

[Ernie Martin]

Sounds like fuel starvation to me.

Ernie

[hharney]

That's the first thing I thought of too. Could have been contamination also. What a shame, and just really strange sequence of events.

[Guy Paris]

Could it have been the fuel caps were left off?

[Hank]

NTSB report out. Very interesting:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=NYC08FA184&rpt=p

[Ernie Martin]

I don't want to preach to the choir, but time to review the "Fuel Supply Management" page in my backup website www.SkymasterUS.com -- especially for older models with separate auxiliary fuel tanks.

Ernie

[Richard]

These kind of stories, I have to admit, makes me sick to my stomach. Look and the experience this pilot had. It makes me think, "is there any hope for me?"

The next question that comes to mind is "I've completely lost my front engine in a Skymaster out in the middle of nowhere, and still made it to the airport on one engine. What was this planes problem?"

[Frank Benvin]

Richard this was most likely a case of Pilot error. You should know your aircrafts systems

The fuel system was a stupid design on Cessan's part in my opinion

The electric boost fuel pumps only pick up fuel from the mains and not the aux tanks in the older models with aux tanks. If you run the mains dry and loose prime you will still have gas in the aux and you can't access it.

Read Ernie'e report

The NTSB report say's mains were empty and there was still 13 gallons 11 in the right and 2 in the left aux tanks . If this had been accessed before the mains were ran dry he should have made it to the airport

[stackj]

As Ernie indicated (above), you really need to know how your fuel system works... especially in the older Skymasters.

Take a look at his web site. He has a great write-up on those systems. This could save your life. Be sure you understand the difference in how to get fuel flow from the aux tanks vs the main tanks. If you run out on the mains, you really have to be patient (and have some altitude) to get a restart on the aux tanks!

[Ernie Martin]

If they'll restart at all. The prudent thing is to believe the POH: if you run the mains dry, you should assume the worse, that you can't get to whatever fuel is in the auxiliary tanks.

Ernie