- Date
- February 8, 2024, 21:05 local (Feb 9, 2024, 03:05 UTC)
- Place
- Wayside, TX · Open grass field
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7586RPiper PA-28-140
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Fuel starvation
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration - Lubbock FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240208011779A
- Case key
- 193792
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 student pilot’s improper fuel management during the cross-country flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.
Findings · 4
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 student pilot was conducting a solo cross-country flight when the airplane had a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. The pilot reported that he switched fuel tanks but was unable to restore engine power before an off-airport forced landing was made in an open field. The airplane’s left wing sustained substantial damage when it struck a metal fence post during the forced landing. According to the student pilot and fueling documentation, the airplane departed on the cross-country flight with a full fuel load (50 gallons) evenly distributed between the wing fuel tanks. The student pilot stated that he switched fuel tanks every 30 minutes during the estimated 2.4 hour flight. However, after the accident, the right fuel tank was found void of usable fuel, and the left fuel tank remained full. A postaccident operational engine test run did not reveal any mechanical anomalies with the engine. It is likely that the student pilot (who did not have a flight instructor endorsement for the solo cross-country flight) mismanaged the fuel during the flight which resulted in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7586R
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-22153
- Built
- 1966
- Airframe hours
- 3,922
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 15, 2023 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- DUC · Duncan, OK
- Destination
- HRX · Hereford, TX
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display, Stall warning system
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
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 21, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 43.1 total · 37.8 in this make and model · 14.6 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- 240° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Observed at
- HRX, 32 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KHRX 090255Z AUTO 24007KT 10SM CLR 07/M07 A2989 RMK AO2 T00731073 TSNO=
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 10.0 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.
Other investigations on N7586R · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.