A Pilot's Siege of Troubles Leads to a Fatal Outcome

One takeaway from this tragedy: Altitude is the best defense.

Peter Garrison

Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 03:30 PM ET

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View of the accident aircraft's Aux Pump and Fuel Transfer Switches. NTSB

Key Takeaways:

A Canadian-registry Cessna 340A crashed at night, killing the pilot, after its right engine failed due to fuel starvation during an approach where the pilot was also unable to activate the runway lights.
The engine failure was attributed to the pilot's improper management of the aircraft's complex fuel system, likely switching to an empty auxiliary tank prematurely.
After the engine loss, the fatigued pilot critically failed to follow emergency procedures, such as feathering the propeller, retracting gear and flaps, or maintaining airspeed, instead becoming fixated on a low-altitude restart attempt, which led to a stall.

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In September 2018, a Canadian-registry Cessna 340A attempting to land at Port Huron, Michigan (KPHN), crashed a half-mile past the departure end of the runway. The airplane was destroyed, and its 690-hour private pilot, the only person aboard, was killed. The accident occurred in darkness and rain, just before midnight, but in VFR conditions.

The pilot, on a business trip to Wisconsin, had left Carp Airport at Ottawa, Ontario (CYRP), around 7:30 p.m. after waiting four hours for a truck to arrive and replenish the airport’s fuel supply. En route at 23,000 feet, he encountered thunderstorms and diverted to St. Thomas, Ontario (CYQS), where he waited on the ground for an hour before continuing to KPHN. He remained at 4,000 feet for the short IFR flight and, on nearing KPHN, was cleared for the GPS Runway 22 approach.