- Date
- June 19, 2020, 17:40 local (22:40 UTC)
- Place
- Martinton, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N244HWBellanca 1730A
- Defining event
- Enroute: Off-field or emergency landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Case key
- 101466
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 improper decision to conduct an off-field precautionary landing.
Findings · 2
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 pilot had flown about 3 hours of a cross-country flight when he thought he was going to run out of fuel. He could not find a runway nearby, so he elected to conduct a precautionary landing on a gravel road before the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion. During the landing the airplane exited the road and went into a ditch, substantially damaging the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that it contained about 1 hour of useable fuel.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N244HW
- Reported as
- Bellanca 1730A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30317
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- St. Louis, MO
- Flight plan
- Unknown
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Flight hours
- 3,600 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.35 inHg
- Observed at
- 50 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 500 KB in all.