KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday a plane that crashed shortly after takeoff last month from a Clay County airport had a known fuel issue.
The plane’s pilot, Alan “Doug” Moler, took off around 9:30 a.m. on July 20, from the Midwest Regional Air Center in Mosby, Missouri, bound for Kingman, Kansas, after receiving a special flight permit to complete an annual inspection.
According to the NTSB’s preliminary report into the crash, the plane’s owner and a mechanic had been working for six months to get the plane airworthy enough to fly to Kingman for the inspection.
After receiving a special airworthiness certificate for the flight, the owner reached out looking for pilots to fly the plane, but at least three pilots declined to perform the “ferry flight.”
Two witnesses told NTSB investigators that two weeks before the crash, those working on the plane performed a “ground run” of the engine, only to discover one of the engines was difficult to start and didn’t produce full power.
One of the witnesses said it was difficult to fuel the plane due to leaked fuel from one of the inboard fuel tanks.
On the morning of the flight, the owner requested nearly 19 gallons of fuel be pumped into the airplane, which held 140 gallons total between three different tanks.
Witnesses at the airport as the plane took off told investigators the pilot had trouble getting airborne before finally taking off at the end of the runway. A witness said the plane barely cleared a line of trees before it struck a transmission line and tree about 1.6 miles north of the runway. The plane eventually struck the ground in a farm field where it slid for more than 300 feet.
The Clay County Sheriff’s office said Moler was reported deceased on the scene of the crash.
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