- Date
- July 22, 2020, 18:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Jacksonville, AR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2158PStearman N2S 3
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- 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
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20200722012159A
- Case key
- 101663
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 failure to adequately monitor his fuel quantity during flight, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power.
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
According to the pilot, the accident flight was the second flight of the day towing banners in his bi-plane. On the return leg, the engine lost all power and the pilot landed along a pipeline and impacted a post, which resulted in substantial damage to the upper and lower right wing. The pilot informed a Federal Aviation Administration inspector that he may have run out of gas. The inspector drained about 1 quart of fuel from the gascolator and "less than a tablespoon" from the sump drains. There was no evidence of fuel in the fuel tanks. The tanks were not breached and the fuel lines appeared to be intact with no evidence of fuel leaks.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2158P
- Reported as
- Stearman N2S 3 (N1)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 75-6861
- Built
- 1942
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Banner tow · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 79AR · Jacksonville, AR
- Destination
- 79AR · Jacksonville, AR
- Flight plan
- Unknown
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
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Unknown
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 717 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N2158P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.