Fuel exhaustion: Piper PA-23 Apache, N2109P, accident occurred on June 4, 2025, near Palm Bay, Florida

• Location: Palm Bay, Florida 
• Accident Number: ERA25LA217 
• Date & Time: June 4, 2025, 13:41 Local 
• Registration: N2109P 
• Aircraft: Piper PA-23 
• Aircraft Damage: Substantial 
• Defining Event: Fuel exhaustion 
• Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 None 
• Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal

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On June 4, 2025, at 1341 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Palm Bay, Florida. The commercial pilot was uninjured, and the sole passenger received minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot of the multi-engine airplane reported that he was completing a cross-country flight and was nearing the next fuel stop at the time of the accident. The pilot reported that only the main fuel tanks were used for the flight due to a fuel leak in the auxiliary fuel tanks. While nearing the airport, the pilot encountered unexpected weather and had to divert several times around the weather. After he diverted around the patches of weather and on approach to the airport, he reported entering a rainstorm with heavy precipitation. He then began a climbing turn to exit the weather; during the climb, the left engine lost power. As he attempted to regain engine power of the left engine, which included turning on the carburetor heat, the right engine began to lose power, after which the airplane could no longer maintain altitude. The pilot then determined that a forced landing was required, and he ditched the airplane in a river. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that it had sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and empennage.

The examination of the wreckage revealed several maintenance problems, such as the right engine's carburetor leaking from the gasket, the right engine's carburetor float valve missing the attach bracket, and the left engine's fuel strainer housing having severe corrosion. Any of these items could have contributed to a loss of power in a particular engine; however, since the loss of power from both engines occurred within a short period of time, it is unlikely that these maintenance issues would have resulted in a near simultaneous loss of engine power.

Postaccident examination of the airframe's fuel system revealed that there was no fuel remaining in the left main fuel tank and approximately 4 gallons remained in the right main fuel tank. No documentation could be found in the airplane's operator's handbook or type certificate data sheet that indicated how much fuel was unusable in each fuel tank. An airplane of similar design on the same type certificate data sheet indicated that its unusable fuel was 1.7 gallons per fuel tank. If the accident airplane's fuel system had a similar unusable amount of fuel, that would indicate the airplane only had about 2.3 gallons of usable fuel remaining.

A review of the weather conditions at the time of the accident revealed that it was conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide engine power settings. At the time of the loss of power, the pilot had was approaching his next fuel stop and would have likely been at a low power setting, during that approach. Additionally, the pilot entered a rainstorm, which would increase the amount of moisture that was in the air, increasing the chances of carburetor ice formation. The pilot stated that after the left engine power loss, he engaged the carburetor heat; indicating that the pilot had not been utilizing the carburetor heat prior to the loss of engine power.

While it is possible that the loss of engine power to both engines was the result of carburetor icing, given the postaccident examination findings it is most likely that the left engine lost power after its fuel supply was exhausted. While the fuel tank feeding the right engine's fuel supply had not yet been completely exhausted, it is likely that while maneuvering after the left engine loss of power, the right engine's fuel tank pickup partially unported due to its low fuel level, resulting in its inconsistent delivery of fuel to that engine, a partial loss of power, and the airplane's inability to maintain altitude.

- Probable Cause: A loss of engine power to both of the airplane's engines due to fuel exhaustion and fuel starvation.

The airplane was equipped with four fuel tanks, one main fuel tank for each engine and one auxiliary fuel tank for each engine. According to the PA-23 Operator’s Handbook, each main fuel tank had a capacity of 36 gallons, and each auxiliary fuel tank had a capacity of 18 gallons. A review of the Operator’s Handbook and the airplane’s Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS), revealed no indication of what the airplane’s unusable amount of fuel was. However, the TCDS indicated a similar airframe, the PA-23-250, had 1.7 gallons of fuel that were unusable. According to the pilot, he did not use the auxiliary fuel tanks due to fuel leaks.