CALLAWAY — Evidence from the scene of a fatal plane wreck last week indicates Destin business owner Larry Eli Caison ran out of gas shortly before he crashed in deep woods near the Sandy Creek Airpark.
The Beechcraft Bonanza G36 Caison piloted for Okaloosa County-based Grey Aviation was about 60 miles from its destination at Destin Airport on Dec. 18 “when the pilot reported to air traffic control that he had lost all engine power,” according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB investigators found “less than three gallons” of fuel at the crash scene, the report said.
“According to the airplane manufacturer, about three gallons of fuel are considered ‘unusable’ in each main fuel tank,” the report said.
To David Gettelfinger, a flight instructor at Destin Jet, the report clearly indicates Caison ran out of gas.
“That’s exactly what it says,” he said.
Caison, 52, was flying from his home in Palm Beach Gardens to spend Christmas with family in Shalimar when his plane went down. He was memorialized Friday at Shalimar United Methodist Church.
A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, Caison was an experienced pilot and was flying a fairly new plane, business partner Kevin Camilli said on the day of the accident.
He took off from North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport at 5:54 a.m. EST. The plane went down about 7:23 a.m. CST, the NTSB report said.
When Caison reported he had lost power, air traffic controllers at Tyndall Air Force Base directed him to Sandy Creek Airpark in southeast Bay County. He directed the plane to within 50 yards of the airpark before it went down in a heavily wooded area.
The Beechcraft “impacted trees and terrain” and its pilot was fatally injured in the crash, according to the NTSB.
While the plane “sustained substantial damage,” the “wreckage was found generally intact,” the report said.
“There was no evidence of fire noted” at the crash site, the report said.
Local pilot Arnold Haynes said the absence of fire provides another clue there was little fuel onboard when the plane went down.
The Beechcraft Bonanza G36 is a transport plane that can carry up to four passengers 750 miles, according to a Beechcraft website. It is equipped with primary fuel tanks as well as left and right “wing tip tanks,” and is capable of holding 444 pounds of gasoline, the website said.
Caison’s right main tank had been damaged in the wreck and held only residual quantities of fuel, the report said. The left main tank held “about one pint of fuel.”
The wing tip tanks were “empty of fuel,” the report said.
NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said the preliminary report contains “facts as we find them” and analysis of those facts “is not what we do.”
He said a probable cause report stating possible reasons for the crash would be finalized and released in “12 to 18 months.”