Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On August 6, 1999, at 1130 mountain daylight time, a Beech V35B, N3059W, conducted a forced landing when the engine lost all power approximately 5 miles northeast of Elizabeth, Colorado. The private pilot and his three passengers received serious injuries and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for this cross-country flight operating under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 0915 central daylight time, with a filed destination of Centennial Airport, Englewood, Colorado.

According to the pilot, the aircraft had 32 gallons of fuel in each of the two internal wing fuel tanks at the time he departed Tulsa.

The pilot said he initiated the flight on the left fuel tank and it took 15 minutes for the climb out to his assigned cruising altitude of 10,000 feet above mean sea level (msl). During the climb, the pilot noted a "small" stream of fuel leaking around the fuel filler gasket on top of the right wing fuel tank. He said the gasket leak had happened before and always stopped when fuel usage lowered the level of fuel in the tank. He switched to the right tank and said the leak stopped in 20 to 30 minutes. He did not know the quantity of fuel that leaked from the tank and said that on previous occurrences the leakage had no measurable effect on fuel quantity.

In the account the pilot provided, he said that he set the power to use 14 gallons of fuel per hour based on fuel flow. He flew for 1 hour on the right tank, then switched to the left tank and flew between 1+15 and 1+30 hours. He then switched back to the right tank.

According to the pilot's statement, about the time he switched back to burning fuel from the right tank the flight was cleared to descend to 9,000 feet followed by a clearance to 8,000 feet with several turns for traffic sequencing.

About 20 miles from the airport, the engine began losing power and the pilot said he notified Denver approach control. They gave him priority handling and a vector direct to the airport. Shortly thereafter, the engine lost all power and approach control gave the pilot information that there was a highway south of his location that might be usable for a forced landing. During the emergency descent for landing, the pilot said he tried unsuccessfully to restart the engine as he turned the aircraft in that direction but could not extend the glide to get to the highway. He made the decision to land and touched down on broken prairie terrain approximately 10 miles southeast of Centennial Airport. During the landing roll, the aircraft collided with a dirt bank in a dry creek bed. The aircraft sustained damage to the fuselage and both wings during the landing.

Calculations based on the pilot's account and the performance section of the aircraft flight manual were conducted and are as follows:

There was 32 gallons of fuel in each tank at the beginnin