MIA05CA100 · Piper PA-28-140
Piper PA-28-140 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (MYAM) to Treasure Coast International Airport (KFPR)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA05CA100
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-28-140
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N98117
- Operator
- Herschel B. Smith · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (MYAM), Marsh HarbourTo Treasure Coast International Airport (KFPR), Fort Pierce, FL
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Fuel exhaustion
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After landing following an uneventful 1 hour 30 minute flight, the pilot reportedly visually checked the fuel tanks noting the fuel level in both was approximately 1/2 inch below the tab in each tank. The airplane was not flown following the inbound flight and the departure of the accident flight, nor was fuel purchased. The pilot noted during his preflight inspection the fuel level in both fuel tanks was the same level he observed following landing, and estimated that the flight departed with approximately 30 gallons of fuel on-board. After takeoff, the flight climbed to 8,500 feet where he noted the ground speed was 70-72 knots. After obtaining winds aloft, he elected to descend to 6,500 feet, and continued towards the destination. At a point in the flight when he was equal distance from the destination airport and an airport in the Bahamas, he elected to continue towards his destination. He descended to 3,500 feet when the flight was approximately 20 miles from the destination airport. The flight continued and when approximately 10 miles from the destination airport, the fuel supply in the right fuel tank was exhausted first, followed by the fuel supply in the left fuel tank. He ditched the airplane which nosed over after touchdown. The pilot did not perform fuel consumption calculations for either flight because he knew the historical fuel consumption.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning/decision which resulted in fuel exhaustion. A contributing factor in the accident was the pilot's inadequate preflight planning/preparation to ensure an adequate fuel supply was available for the intended flight.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA05CA100
- Event ID
- 20050602X00715
- Case number
- MIA05CA100
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: f18095d9312c99fdf069ab8dda5c9287648c34e02f777bcfac64c64287741102; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:02:07.751Z.