Event CEN23LA021

Factual narrative

On October 27, 2022, about 2007 central daylight time (CDT), a Cessna T210M, N36X, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Fort Worth Spinks Airport (FWS), Burleson, Texas. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 corporate flight. The pilot reported that the flight initiated from the Columbus Airport, Columbus, Georgia (CSG), about 0350 CDT, with the fuel selector on the right fuel tank. About 2 hours into the flight, the fuel selector was switched to the left tank, and when the airplane was about 30 nautical miles from FWS, the fuel selector was switched back to the right tank. The pilot maneuvered the airplane onto the final approach for runway 18 at FWS, and when he was about ½ mile from the runway threshold, at an altitude of about 200 ft agl, he attempted to increase engine power, but the engine did not respond. He ensured that the fuel mixture was set to full rich and switched the fuel selector back to the left tank, but the engine still did not respond. The pilot reported that he used pitch to maintain the airplane’s approach speed and landed the airplane. During the landing, the airplane struck the localizer antenna array that was about 1,000 ft north of the runway 18 threshold. The airplane touched down in the grass area between the antenna array and the runway. The right main landing gear collapsed, the left elevator was torn from aircraft, and the right horizontal stabilizer structure was bent upward and aft during the accident sequence. According to flight track information, the flight lasted 4 hours and 10 minutes. Postaccident examination of the airplane after the accident revealed that the right fuel tank did not contain a usable quantity of fuel. No other preimpact anomalies were detected that would have prevented normal operation of the airplane. The pilot reported that the airplane’s engine did not respond when he attempted to increase power while on final approach to land at the conclusion of a 4-hour flight. The airplane was about ½ mile from the runway at 200 ft above ground level (agl) at the time. He attempted to switch tanks and selected full rich mixture, but the engine did not restart. The pilot continued the landing, but the airplane struck the runway approach lighting system about 1,000 ft short of the runway and came to rest between the approach lights and the runway. A postaccident examination of the airplane did not reveal any preimpact mechanical anomalies. The right fuel tank did not contain any usable fuel at the time of the examination and the tank was not compromised. Based on the available evidence, the loss of engine power was likely due to mismanagement of the airplane’s fuel supply, which resulted in fuel starvation. Due to the low altitude the airplane’s engine likely had insufficient time to restart after the pilot switched tanks following the loss of engine power. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

• — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management
• — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tower/antenna (incl guy wires)-Contributed to outcome