Fort Myers-Southwest Regional

While on approach to land the left engine surged and lost power. The pilot switched the left engine fuel selector to another fuel tank and the engine restarted. A short time later the left engine surged and lost power again. The pilot switched the left engine fuel selector to the right main fuel tank and the engine again restarted. A short time later the left engine quit again and he shutdown the engine and feathered the propeller. A short time later the right engine surged and lost power. He shut down the right engine and feathered the propeller. He then made a forced landing in a field and during landing rollout the aircraft's left wing collided with a tree. A fire erupted in the left wing area. Post crash examination showed the right main fuel tank was empty. The right auxiliary fuel tank contained 2.5 gallons. The left main fuel tank contained one half gallon of fuel and the left auxiliary tank was ruptured. The pilot operating handbook stated that the main fuel tanks had one gallon unusable fuel and the auxiliary fuel tanks had one half gallon of unusable fuel.

The aircraft departed Miami at night on an on-demand, air taxi flight to Fort Myers, FL. During arrival at the destination, the flight encountered IFR conditions. The pilot obtained clearance for an ILS runway 06 approach and was told to report at the outer marker (om). At 0152:25 est, he reported to Miami center that he was over the om. This was his last transmission to an ATC facility. At about 0203 est, he made a transmission on unicom frequency to inform airport operations personnel that he could not get the approach lights to operate. He was asked if he had used the proper frequency and had keyed the mike the required number of times. The pilot indicated that he had properly keyed the mike; however, unicom personnel did not hear any keying of the mike except for 2 clicks. The aircraft contacted the ground in a nearly level attitude and with the gear extended, approximately 1.5 mile short of runway 06. It then skidded about 90 feet and hit a tree before coming to rest. No preimpact part failure/malfunction was found with the aircraft, engine or approach/runway lights. The 0149 est weather at Fort Myers was in part: sky obscured, visibility 1/4 mile with fog. While the pilot was seriously injured, the passenger was killed.