- Date
- August 29, 1991, 13:20 local (17:20 UTC)
- Place
- Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Ocean)
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3303VCessna 150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910829037489A
- Case key
- 11701
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 became lost over the Atlantic Ocean and flew until the fuel supply was exhausted.
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 student pilot missed several key landmarks on a supervised solo cross country flight. After becoming disoriented, he flew east from the mouth of chesapeake bay out to the Atlantic Ocean. Sixty miles east of the Atlantic ocastline, the aircraft experienced fuel exhaustion and the pilot successfully ditched in the Ocean, where he was rescued by personnel on a pleasure boat.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3303V
- Reported as
- Cessna 150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15076455
- Engine
- Lycoming O-200-A, 105 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Journey Aviation
- Registered owner
- Journey Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- W29 · Stevensville, MD
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- AO · Atlantic Ocean
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 43 total · 20 in this make and model · 56 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ORF, 80 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.