Engine out, runway overrun

K

Killed a few soybeans

Guest
Was flying XC to Oshkosh, south of Chicago at 2K AGL, when engine began cutting out and surging. I chose to land at a private 2000 foot grass crop duster strip. Botched the approach and wound up running off the end of the runway 200 yards into a soybean field.

No damage to aircraft, no injuries. Cause was determined to be a gas cap not properly sealing, which siphoned off approx 20 gallons of gas in flight. After pulled the aircraft back onto the runway and gassing it up, I took off and flew to a nearby airport.

Question: am I required to report this event to the FAA or NTSB?

Insight: recently installed engine monitor had lulled me into complacency. It was so hyper accurate on fuel burn that I gradually stopped cross checking the wing root gauge.
 
Salty said:
No need to report unless you caused $25,000 damage to the crops.
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Assuming he did cause some damage, would he be legally obliged to pay for it? Would his insurance, assuming he has some, pay for it?
 
JOhnH said:
Assuming he did cause some damage, would he be legally obliged to pay for it? Would his insurance, assuming he has some, pay for it?
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Why wouldn’t he? But that’s not relevant to my post. The faa definition accident includes a clause for property damage in excess of $25k.
 
This is one of the reasons I think people take the reporting requirements a little too seriously. It’s up to the pilot / owner to make that call before there is time to know how much damage to the airplane or property actually is. They are just saying to make a judgement call.
 
No need to report, but I’d do a NASA report anyways.

Salty said:
No need to report unless you caused $25,000 damage to the crops.
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Close, but no cigar.

830.5
a) An aircraft accident or any of the following listed serious incidents occur:
….
(6) Damage to property, other than the aircraft, estimated to exceed $25,000 for repair (including materials and labor) or fair market value in the event of total loss, whichever is less.

Crops won’t be repaired, so fair market value is what I’d use and a $25K grocery cart of corn, soybeans, etc., is going to be about the size of this:
7fd934e0e364985fb467243afa895877.jpg
 
In my case, the Faa already knew because the police called them. The local police thought it was a much bigger deal than the Faa did.
 
If you are really worried, call the local FSDO and ask them about your friend that landed in a soybean field. I understand they like it when folks call them and ask questions.

Suggest not calling during nap time...

Also suggest leaving this part out.

Killed a few soybeans said:
Insight: recently installed engine monitor had lulled me into complacency. It was so hyper accurate on fuel burn that I gradually stopped cross checking the wing root gauge.
Click to expand...
 
If you make $1k/ac on beans (income, not profit), and you damaged a 200 ft length, if it was a high wing maybe 6 ft wide, if low wing maybe 30 ft, thus an area of 1,200 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft damaged. That’s about 0.03 to 0.13 acres, or $30 to $130 of damage. HIGH wing for the win (of course).
 
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My Bonanza is registered to me in Florida, but I have taken it to every State except Hawaii, and also 5 Canadian territories.
 
Off topic, but there's drinking involved when you guys rename provinces/territories up there, right?
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
But we only have 3 territories in Canada.
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Actually I knew that but I forgot that other word (Provinces) and I didn't really know the difference. I flunked Canadian civics AND Canadian geography.
I apologize for being so ignorant about your country. I really do like Canada and Canadians. Except for one who I won't mention.
 
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