- Date
- July 9, 1991, 16:50 local (20:50 UTC)
- Place
- Norton, WV
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N185JVCessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910709026659A
- Case key
- 11693
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 pilot's inadequate inflight decision which resulted in fuel exhaustion and the lost of engine power.
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 pilot was headed to elkins to refuel the airplane when the engine lost power. The airplane landed in wooded mountainous terrain. During recovery of the airplane, two gallons of fuel was drained from the left wing fuel tank; the right wing fuel tank was empty. The examination of the airplane did not disclose evidence of mechanical malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N185JV
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503213
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-520-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dewey B. Durrett
- Registered owner
- Dewey B. Durrett
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · January 2, 1900
- Departed
- Kingsville, WV
- Destination
- EKN · Elkins, WV
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
- 62
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EKN, 1 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.