N740FT

On September 12, 2021, at 1051 central daylight time, a Piper PA-44-180 airplane, N740FT, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Magnolia, Texas. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot stated that during the preflight inspection, the fuel gauges indicated 17 gallons of fuel in both the left and right tanks. He then visually inspected each tank and confirmed fuel was present. After takeoff, he climbed to 2,000 ft mean sea level (msl) and flew about 15 minutes to the destination airport, about 34 miles northwest, where he completed one full stop landing. He departed and proceeded back to the original airport. About 10 minutes into the return flight, the left engine experienced a loss of power, then 5 minutes later the right engine experienced a loss of power. He attempted to execute an emergency landing to a road but struck a tree during the descent.

The pilot rented the airplane from a local business and did not fuel the airplane before takeoff.

The responding Federal Aviation Administration inspector reported that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, and both wings. The fuel tanks were not breached during the accident sequence and neither tank contained evidence of fuel. There was no evidence of fuel on the ground near the airplane. A mechanic confirmed that there was no fuel found in either fuel tank, about 4 to 6 oz of fuel was drained from the left carburetor and there was no fuel in the right carburetor. There were no preimpact anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

The dispatch sheets and discrepancy logs from the five previous flights did not reveal any anomalies with the fuel gauges, fuel system, or fuel consumption.

A postaccident fuel consumption calculation was completed, which revealed that the pilot had departed with a total of about 14 gallons of fuel. Based on an average fuel consumption rate of 17 gallons per hour, the airplane would have contained less than 1.5 gallons of fuel at the accident site. The airplane’s manual states that the fuel tanks have 2 gallons of total unusable fuel.