Brookings Airport: Brookings, Oregon

Find Brookings Airport Services and Amenities:Brookings Flying Club;

Special Events and Attractions:  Azelea State Park; Beaches; Chetco River; Harris Beech State Park;

The pilot reported that he had obtained a weather briefing prior to departure and noted headwinds for the route of flight. The pilot calculated fuel endurance via the pilot operating handbook for cruise flight and utilizing a 65% power setting. The intended route of flight was estimated to take four hours and 30 minutes. The pilot reported that the manual indicated that for this power setting, the aircraft was capable of five hours and 15 minutes with a 45 minute reserve. While en route, the headwind was higher than the pilot expected. The pilot opted to divert to the southwest in an attempt to increase the airspeed. An altitude increase by several thousand feet was necessary for terrain clearance. The airspeed did not increase and the pilot opted to divert to another airport for landing as the flight now approached four hours with an estimated 45 minutes to an hour to go. While en route to the alternate airport, the engine rpm started to decrease at
about four hours and 25 minutes into the flight. The pilot reported the emergency to air traffic control and set-up for an off-airport landing. When the pilot broke out of the cloud layer, he noted that he would not make the airport and performed a landing to a creek. During the descent, the aircraft collided with trees before coming to rest in the creek bed. During the wreckage recovery, the wing fuel tanks were intact. Approximately three gallons for fuel were drained from the fuel system. The engine was later prepared for an engine run. The engine was started and ran with no anomalies noted.
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During a flight in night visual meteorological conditions, the pilot reported to air traffic control that he had his destination airport in sight. Flight following services were terminated and the pilot was instructed to squawk 1200 transponder code and frequency change was approved. Radar data indicated that the flight was about 14 miles from the destination airport and at 3,600 feet MSL. The flight tracking indicated that about 36 seconds later, the tracking started a left turn to the east for unknown reasons, and continued to descend at about 1,000 feet per minute completing approximately a 180 degree turn before radar contact was lost at 400 feet. Just prior to loss of radar contact, the pilot made one transmission to Seattle Center stating "Seattle Glasair 2WG." The controller responded to the transmission, however, the pilot did not respond. The fuselage, minus the engine, washed ashore six days later. The gascolator, the line from the gascolator
to the electric boost pump and the output fuel line running from the electric boost pump to the engine driven fuel pump were removed from the firewall. The output fuel line from the electric boost pump was intact. The b-nut on the end of the line which would attach to the inlet fitting on the engine driven fuel pump was intact. That b-nut was further inspected by the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory in Washington DC. The Senior Materials Engineer reported that "Some thread damage was observed on the threads at the fitting end of the nut. All damage was limited to within one to two threads from the end." The engineer further reported, "The thread peaks of two threads closest to the fitting end of the nut were deformed and smeared toward the fitting end." Further inspection was not possible as the engine was not recovered, therefore evidence of a mechanical failure or malfunction could not be determined. Toxicology results found
Amphetamine in the urine and not the blood which was retrieved from the chest cavity. Other than the unexplained course reversal during the last few minutes prior to the accident, normal flight operations were depicted via the radar tracking and in flight communications.