- Date
- April 6, 1992, 08:20 local (12:20 UTC)
- Place
- Elizabeth City, NC
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N23380Cessna 150H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920406008979A
- Case key
- 8583
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
Inadequate preflight planning/preparation, which resulted in fuel exhaustion due to an inadequate supply of fuel. A factor was the soft terrain at the forced landing site.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The commercial pilot was in a descent for landing on a VFR cross country flight. At about 4,000 feet MSL, the engine quit. He set up for a forced landing on a plowed field. After touchdown, the nose wheel dug into the soft soil, and the airplane nosed over, resulting in structural damage. The pilot had been aloft for about three hours when the power loss occurred. The pilot reported that he had depleted his available fuel supply.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N23380
- Reported as
- Cessna 150H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15068916
- Airframe hours
- 5,172
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Maeder, Claude R.
- Registered owner
- Maeder, Claude R.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 17, 1991 · 89 hours before
- Departed
- HTO · East Hampton, NY
- Destination
- EDE · Edenton, NC
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
- 60
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,316 total · 24 in this make and model · 2,017 as pilot in command · 24 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ECG, 5 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.