- Date
- June 4, 2024, 20:12 local (Jun 5, 2024, 02:12 UTC)
- Place
- Gypsum, CO · Mountainous Terrain
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5755BCessna 182
- 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
- Federal Aviation Administration - Denver FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240604007919A
- Case key
- 194400
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 failure of the flight instructor and the pilot to visually confirm the airplane’s fuel quantity during preflight, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and an off-airport forced landing in rough terrain.
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 flight instructor and the pilot were conducting an instructional flight when the airplane had a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. The airplane fuselage sustained substantial damage during the forced landing in rough terrain. The flight instructor reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane operator reported that the fuel tanks remained intact after the accident, were void of usable fuel, and both fuel tank quantity gauges indicated empty. Before the flight, the flight instructor asked another flight instructor to request the fixed based operator (FBO) to refuel the airplane. However, despite the fuel request being relayed to the FBO front desk personnel, the airplane was not fueled before it departed on the flight. The flight instructor and the pilot both admitted that they did not visually confirm the fuel quantity during their preflight inspection. Additionally, believing that the fuel tanks were topped-off as requested, the pilots erroneously reset the airplane’s electronic fuel totalizer to reflect a full fuel load before takeoff.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5755B
- Reported as
- Cessna 182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 33755
- Built
- 1956
- Airframe hours
- 8,136
- Engine
- Continental O-470-S, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Alpine Flight Training
- Registered owner
- iTechnology Design Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 3, 2024 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- EGE · Eagle, CO
- Destination
- EGE · Eagle, CO
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Satellite tracking device, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Electronic multifunction display
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 4, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 459 total · 25 in this make and model · 392 as pilot in command · 171 in the last 90 days · 85 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 29, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 156 total · 63 in this make and model · 78 as pilot in command · 54 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- EGE, 2 nm away
- METAR
- KEGE 050156Z AUTO 28008KT 10SM CLR 23/03 A3011 RMK AO2 SLP102 T02280028 PNO $
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.7 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.