WPR20LA161 · Beech 35 J35
Beech 35 J35 · Accident: fuel related on approach
From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD) to Cascade Locks State Airport (CZK)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR20LA161
- 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
Beech 35 J35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N8359D
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Portland Troutdale Airport (TTD), Portland, ORTo Cascade Locks State Airport (CZK), Cascade Locks, OR
- Aircraft age
- About 62 years (built 1958)
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- Defining eventThe 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
- Fuel related
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot departed for the personal flight with the fuel selector valve set to the LEFT MAIN position. About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot switched the fuel selector valve to the AUX TANK position and initiated a return to the departure airport. During the return flight, he decided to familiarize himself with a local airport. While on final approach, the pilot observed a person standing on the north side of the runway more than half-way down the runway. After overflying the person, the pilot advanced the throttle to full power and retracted the flaps. About 1-2 seconds after initiating a climb, the pilot noted a lack of acceleration and the engine volume decreased. He returned the airplane to level flight and switched the fuel selector from the AUX TANK position to the RIGHT fuel tank. The pilot looked for a suitable landing area and made sure that his throttle, mixture, and propeller levers were full forward. The pilot reported a rocky shoreline and with no other options, set up for a forced landing to the water. The airplane landed in the water near the shoreline, and the pilot and passenger were able to exit the airplane without assistance and swam to shore. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the fuel selector was selected to the RIGHT TANK position. Additionally, printed on the fuel selector plate were the words “AUX TANK, LEVEL FLIGHT ONLY.” No evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation were noted with the airframe or engine. It is likely that the reason for the loss of engine power during the climb was a result of fuel starvation to the engine. The fuel pickup line in the auxiliary fuel tank is in the forward section of the fuel tank. When the airplane is in a climb attitude, it is possible the fuel in the auxiliary tank will shift aft of the fuel pickup line, which would starve the engine of fuel. As a result, pilots are cautioned to only use the auxiliary tank while in level flight, as printed on the fuel selector plate.
Probable cause
The pilot’s improper fuel tank selection which resulted in fuel starvation to the engine and a loss of engine power.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR20LA161
- Event ID
- 20200517X70502
- Case number
- WPR20LA161
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, cause areas. 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: e6270710b96ad2df01fbd4bf3141050e05e04d5340ea18059ab2016d6ccd7b09; retrieved 2026-09-16T11:37:15.647Z.