N8CX

On August 9, 1998, about 1338 Eastern Daylight Time, a Cessna T337G, N8CX, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain during a forced landing near Windsor Township, Pennsylvania. The certificated private pilot/owner and three passengers received serious injuries, and a fourth passenger received minor injury. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from the Portland International Jetport (PWM), Portland, Maine, about 1050, and was destined for the Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The pilot stated that he was north of Lancaster at an altitude of 8,500 feet, when he requested an IFR clearance to descend below the cloud cover. Once the clearance was received for the descent, he extended the landing gear. While descending through 4,000 feet, the front engine lost power, and within 30 seconds, the rear engine lost power. He recalled that he saw 100 pounds of fuel indicating on both fuel gauges. He stated that he did not raise the landing gear, and because neither of his engines had unfeathering devices, he did not feather either engine. The pilot stated that the controller vectored him to an airport 6 miles away, but when he realized that he was unable to reach it, he executed a forced landing into a cornfield. He further stated that about 10 feet above the field, the right wing dropped, and the airplane impacted the ground in a right wing down, nose down attitude.

Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration Inspector did not reveal any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions. He stated that the fuel caps were intact and secured. There was no fuel streaking around the fuel caps or drain areas, and the fuel tanks had maintained their integrity. The Inspector reported that approximately 2 gallons of fuel were drained from the wreckage. The Pilot's Operating Handbook recovered from the airplane indicated that the total fuel tank capacity was 125 gallons, which includes 2 unusable gallons.

Before departure, the pilot purchased 70 gallons of fuel. He stated that during his preflight check, the fuel was about 2 inches below the lip of the refueling cap, and the needle on both fuel gauges read about 1/8 inch from the full end of the gauge. He estimated that there were 93 gallons of fuel onboard. His VFR flight plan to LNS indicated 2 hours 30 minutes en route, with a total of 4 hours of fuel onboard. The pilot reported, that for flight planning purposes, he utilized a 25 gallons-per-hour consumption rate (both engines).

According to the pilot's written statement, "Fuel exhaustion resulted from an increase in fuel usage from 23 GPH to 32 GPH. The fuel increase is related to returning the front engine from the configuration purchased to the proper configuration per the Continental manual during overhaul." The front engine was overhauled on July 15, 1998.