- Date
- April 17, 2021, 13:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Caro, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N22005Cessna 150
- 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 FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210417003329A
- Case key
- 102928
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 preflight inspection and fuel planning and improper in-flight decision-making, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 5
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 reported that after about 45 minutes of flight, he noted the fuel gauges were not moving, so he returned to the airport. About half a mile from the airport the airplane “ran out of gas”. The pilot chose to conduct a forced landing to a road. During the landing the right landing gear struck a mailbox, and the left wing impacted a small tree before the airplane came to rest in a ditch. The airplane’s left wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that both fuel tanks were empty.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N22005
- Reported as
- Cessna 150 (H)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15068003
- Built
- 1967
- Airframe hours
- 6,788
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Caro, MI
- Airport
- CFS
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,700 total · 120 in this make and model · 1,630 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.90 inHg
- Observed at
- KCFS, 2 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.3 MB 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.