# NTSB CEN15LA361: Cessna 150, N8896U, Brookfield, MO, August 11, 2015 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · No injuries · Limited investigation · Final report - Date: August 11, 2015, 15:50 local (20:50 UTC) - Place: Brookfield, MO - Coordinates: 39.761943, -93.013336 (estimated) - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=39.7619&lon=-93.0133&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Approach](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/500) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Defining event: [Approach: Fuel exhaustion](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/192) - Highest injury: No injuries - Injuries: 2 uninjured - Status: Completed, report February 3, 2016 - Report: Approved by Office Director - NTSB office: Central Region - Parties: Federal Aviation Administration - NTSB case key (mKey): 91798 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=CEN15LA361 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/91798/pdf - NTSB docket: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=91798 - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CEN15LA361 ## Probable cause The pilot's failure to visually check the quantity of fuel in the fuel tanks in accordance with the Preflight checklist, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and the subsequent forced landing. ## Findings NTSB's coded findings; those marked are part of the probable cause. - [Inspection: preflight inspection](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061510): Personnel issues › Task performance · Pilot (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061510/cases.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 551 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061510/cases.md) - [Fluids: fuel](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01071010): Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware · Fluid level (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 11 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01071010/cases.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 1,695 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/01071010/cases.md) - [Use of equip/info: use of checklist](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063030): Personnel issues › Task performance · Pilot (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063030/cases.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 336 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02063030/cases.md) - [Planning/preparation: fuel planning](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061030): Personnel issues › Task performance · Pilot (probable cause); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 9 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061030/cases.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 719 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/02061030/cases.md) - [Object/animal/substance: fence/fence post](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03022047): Environmental issues › Physical environment · Contributed to outcome; cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03022047/cases.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 313 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-findings/03022047/cases.md) ## Sequence of events The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event best describes what happened. - [Prior to flight: Preflight or dispatch event](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/030); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 3 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/030/sequence.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 355 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/030/sequence.md) - [Approach: Fuel exhaustion](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/192) (defining event); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 11 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/192/sequence.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 804 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/192/sequence.md) - [Approach: Loss of engine power (total)](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/341); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 20 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/341/sequence.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 3,820 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/341/sequence.md) - [Emergency descent: Off-field or emergency landing](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/440); cases with it: [Cessna 150M, 17 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/440/sequence.md?model=2071830), [All aircraft, 3,365 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/440/sequence.md) ## Analysis The pilot reported that he departed on a cross-country flight with the fuel gauges indicating that the fuel tanks were half full, which he thought was sufficient fuel for the flight. While on final approach to the destination airport, the engine lost power, and the pilot subsequently performed an off-field forced landing. The airplane struck a wire fence and sustained substantial damage. Examination of the wreckage revealed no preimpact anomalies, and no usable fuel was found in the fuel tanks. The pilot reported that he did not visually check the fuel level in the fuel tanks before the flight, which was not in accordance with the Preflight checklist in the Airplane Owner's Manual. He added that he relied on the fuel gauge indications to determine the quantity of fuel on board the airplane. The circumstances of the accident are consistent with the exhaustion of usable fuel during the flight, which led to the loss of engine power. ## Factual narrative On August 11, 2015, about 1550 central daylight time, a Cessna 150M airplane, N8896U, impacted terrain following a loss of engine power near Brookfield, Missouri. The private pilot and his passenger were uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial firewall damage. The airplane was registered to a private individual and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area about the time of the accident, and the flight was not operating on a flight plan. The flight originated from the Chillicothe Municipal Airport (CHT), near Chillicothe, Missouri, about 1500, and was destined for the North Central Missouri Regional Airport (MO8), near Brookfield, Missouri.According to the pilot's accident report, he departed from MO8 to CHT with the fuel gauges indicating that they "were at half a tank." He stated that he planned to use a total of 4.2 gallons during the flight and thought that the airplane had 10 to 11 gallons of fuel in its tanks. He performed a touch and go landing at CHT and flew over a friend's house on the return flight to MO8. The pilot, in part, reported: On final around a mile out the engine sputtered at around 400 [feet above ground level] with flaps at 30 [degrees] flaps and at a airspeed of 75 knots. At that time the engine fully stopped, and I had to start emergency procedures because I decided that we would not make it to runway. I found a field on the left of final that was [suitable] for landing. The airport manager at MO8 said that about 1615 in the afternoon, a young woman and a young man arrived at the airport office. According to the manager, the woman came in to report the accident and indicated that she was a passenger on the flight. The manager subsequently went to the accident site and observed the airplane wreckage on the ground in a pasture. The landing rollout carried the airplane through a wire fence and it came to rest on the gravel road alongside the pasture. The nose landing gear separated from the airplane. The airplane came to rest in a tail high and nose-low attitude on the gravel surface. The manager noted that there was some fuel trickling from the fuel line that was dangling from underneath the cowling. He did not see a "substantial" amount of fuel and estimated that he saw a few tablespoons full of gas "with no apparent accumulation." N8896U, a 1976 model Cessna 150M, serial number 15078017, was a single engine, all-metal airplane of semimonocoque construction. The airplane incorporated a strutted high-wing design with a fixed tricycle landing gear, and it could accommodate two occupants. According to the airplane owner's manual, the airplane's standard fuel tanks hold 26 gallons of fuel and the optional long-range tanks hold 38 gallons. The unusable fuel in the fuel tanks is 3.5 gallons and 3 gallons respectively. The exterior preflight inspection checklist, published in the owner's manual, directs the pilot to visuallycheck each fuel tank before flight. According to the airplane owner, the last airplane annual inspection was completed on August 8, 2015. Before the airplane was recovered, first responders looked in the fuel tanks and observed about one gallon of fuel in the left tank and the right tank was empty. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors examined the recovered wreckage and observed that there was no useable fuel in the fuel tanks. The inspectors also did not see any preimpact anomalies that would have prevented normal operation of the airplane. The pilot subsequently confirmed that "there was not [a] physical check of fuel levels, the amount of fuel on board was determined from the reading on the gauges." ## Aircraft - Registration: [N8896U](https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N8896U-2017-03-21), registration cancelled 2017-03-21, S/N 15078017, built 1976 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: CESSNA 150 (M) - Registry model: [Cessna 150M](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150m) (registry code 2071830) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry engine: [Continental 0-200 series](https://openairdocs.org/engine/continental-0-200-series) (registry code 17020, reciprocating) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 15078017 - Year built: 1976 - Airframe hours: 9300 - Engines: CONT MOTOR O-200 100 horsepower reciprocating - Damage: Substantial damage - Flight: Personal, Part 91 - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Last inspection: Annual, August 8, 2015 - Departed: CHT, CHILLICOTHE, MO - Destination: MO8, Brookfield, MO - Flight plan: VFR - Airport: MO8, North Central Missouri Rgnl, runway 36, 5,002 × 75 ft, concrete ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 22; injuries: none; private; airplane ratings: single-engine land; medical: class 1, unknown; seat: left; restraint: 3-point; flight hours: 162 total, 106 in this make and model, 154 as pilot in command ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day - Wind: 340° at 10 knots, gusting 15 - Visibility: 10 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: none - Temperature: 82 °F, dew point 61 °F - Altimeter: 30.15 inHg - Observed at: KIRK, 29 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 (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 20150811013149A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20150811013149A), Aug 11, 2015: Cessna 150M, Brookfield, MO, Substantial damage. The pilot departed the Brookfield airport (MO8) intending to fly to the chillicothe airport (kcht) and back. Prior to departure the pilot did not check the… ## Docket (7 files) The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 17, 2015, on NTSB's docket system: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=91798. 3.3 MB in all. - Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1 - Pilot (item 1, .PDF, 424 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435079&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Pilot%2FOperator%20Aircraft%20Accident%20Report,%20NTSB%20Form%206120.1%20-%20Pilot-Master.PDF - Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1 - Owner (item 2, .PDF, 2.4 MB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435081&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Pilot%2FOperator%20Aircraft%20Accident%20Report,%20NTSB%20Form%206120.1%20-%20Owner-Master.PDF - Memorandum for Record - Pilot (item 3, .PDF, 78 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435080&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Memorandum%20for%20Record%20-%20Pilot-Master.PDF - Memorandum for Record - Airport Manager's Recollections (item 4, .PDF, 83 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435082&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Memorandum%20for%20Record%20-%20Airport%20Manager%27s%20Recollections-Master.PDF - Memorandum for Record - FAA Inspector's Findings (item 5, .PDF, 77 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435083&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Memorandum%20for%20Record%20-%20FAA%20Inspector%27s%20Findings-Master.PDF - Weather Reports and Records (item 6, .PDF, 13 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435084&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Weather%20Reports%20and%20Records-Master.PDF - Miscellaneous Information - Cessna 150 Owners Manual Excerpt (item 7, .PDF, 255 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40435085&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Miscellaneous%20Information%20-%20Cessna%20150%20Owners%20Manual%20Excerpt-Master.PDF From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.