AAIB investigation to Team Minimax, G-MYRG
Forced landing due to fuel starvation, near Northrepps Airfield on 6 December 2014
Summary:
Whilst overhead Northrepps Airfield after a local flight, the engine suddenly stopped. The pilot states that he misjudged the glide performance of the aircraft with a stationary propeller and, in attempting to land on the runway, feared he would not be able to clear some power lines which ran across the approach. He therefore force-landed the aircraft in a field of sugar beet but, as soon as a bar which stretched between the two landing gear wheels entered the crop, the aircraft flipped inverted. The pilot was uninjured but required the help of members of the local flying club to right the aircraft before he could evacuate from it.
The cause of the engine stopping was found to be a lack of fuel which manifested itself when the aircraft attitude changed. The pilot admits that unfamiliarity with the aircraft type and its fuel consumption combined with overestimating its glide performance with a stationary propeller by about 300 feet per minute were the main causal factors in the accident.
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