CEN24LA033 · Aero Commander 500-B

The pilot stated that, about 30 minutes into the flight, he observed low fuel pressure and a partial loss of power on the right engine. The pilot’s initial attempts at regaining engine power by using the fuel boost pump were successful until the airplane was about 15 miles from the destination airport, when the right engine lost fuel pressure and began surging. Shortly thereafter, left engine fuel pressure was lost and both engines were producing partial power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a field, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing. Postaccident examination revealed only residual fuel in the airplane’s fuel system; however, during a subsequent examination of the airplane several weeks later, about 27 gallons of fuel was drained from the airplane. There was no fuel system contamination present. A postaccident engine run revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Testing of the fuel quantity sending unit revealed that it was inoperative. The lack of useable fuel upon initial examination, the inoperative fuel quantity sending unit, and the loss of power to both engines is consistent with a fuel mismanagement event; however, the amount of fuel onboard at the time of the accident could not be quantified, and whether the loss of engine power was the result of fuel exhaustion or starvation could not be determined.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset