'Fuel Starvation' Caused Small Plane's Emergency Landing On I-355

BOLINGBROOK, IL — A small passenger airplane's landing in January on Interstate 355 was found to be because of "fuel starvation," according to a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

On Jan. 10, the plane, a Beech G33, made an emergency landing on southbound I-355 near Bolingbrook. The plane had taken off from Middleton, Wisconsin, and was set to land at Brookeridge Airpark in Downers Grove, according to the final report.

On approach to Downers Grove, the pilot reported the engine lost total power, the report notes. The pilot tried to restart the engine "by switching fuel tanks, but he may have forgotten to engage the boost pump, and the restart was unsuccessful."

Post-accident examination of the plane showed that the left fuel tank was empty, but the right fuel tank had visible but unknown quantity of fuel. A "functional engine test" was run with the right fuel tank selected, and was completed with "no anomalies noted," according to the report.

The National Transportation Safety Board thus determined the cause of the accident to be: "the pilot's inadequate fuel management, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation."

The wings of the plane sustained substantial damage in the emergency landing, but no one was injured, according to the report.