Accident with a Piper PA-31-310 aircraft with the registration LN-NAB in the vicinity of Stockholm/ Västerås airport

Summary

A commercial flight with a Piper PA-31-310 aircraft was operated for the purpose of perform­ing a three-dimensional scan east of Stockholm. Take-off and landing were intended to be carried out at Stockholm/Västerås Airport. During the final phase of the flight, a fuel exhaus­tion caused dual engine failures, which led to an emergency landing in a field in the vicinity of the airport. The landing caused structural damage to the left wing. There were no injuries to the persons onboard.

The technical investigation has shown that the fuel gauges indicated unreliable values, and that there was no remaining usable fuel. The operator's fuel management and planning for the duration of the mission proved inadequate. Following the accident, the operator has introduced measures to improve fuel measurement and documentation, including increased requirements for fuel reserve and annual calibration of the fuel gauges.

Causes

The accident was the result of a number of factors which together caused the engines to fail due to fuel exhaustion, resulting in an emergency landing.

Shortcomings in planning, implementation and follow-up within the operator's operations contributed to the risks of such a situation not being managed in an appropriate manner.

Contributing factors:

• Absence of accurate fuel consumption data.
• Prerequisites were lacking to establish a sufficiently detailed operational flight plan.
• The fuel gauges indicated unreliable values.
• The operator's safety management system had not fully addressed the specific chal­lenges and risks posed by the operation.

Safety recommendations

As the operator has taken satisfactory measures, SHK refrains from issuing any safety recommendations.