- Date
- September 26, 2010, 19:20 local (Sep 27, 2010, 02:20 UTC)
- Place
- Kenai, AK
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5748UPiper PA-28-140
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report March 16, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20100926049509A
- Case key
- 77418
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The student pilot's improper fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power during cruise flight.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The student pilot was on the last leg of a personal cross-country flight and experienced engine anomalies due to lack of fuel. The engine experienced a total loss of power and he reported to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic approach controller that he had a fuel-related emergency. The pilot was given a direction and distance to the airport, but he determined the airplane was not capable of gliding that distance. The pilot performed a forced landing in a mash and the airplane nosed over on the landing roll. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was on the last leg of a personal cross country flight with one passenger when he radioed to an FAA air traffic approach controller that he had a "lack of fuel" emergency and requested a heading to an airport. The pilot was given a direction and distance, but he decided he was not able to glide that far. The airplane subsequently sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during a forced landing on marshy terrain. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane in reference to the accident flight. The pilot was asked by the NTSB investigator if he purchased fuel prior to departure on the last leg of his flight, and he indicated that he did not but should have. According to the pilot, his passenger held a private pilot certificate.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5748U
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-26570
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Scott Schneider
- Registered owner
- Kevin Sutton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Port Alsworth, AK
- Destination
- Anchorage, AK
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22 total · 22 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Observed at
- ANC
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 28, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 954 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.