- Date
- July 5, 2025, 09:31 local (13:31 UTC)
- Place
- Newaygo, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N71790Luscombe 8A
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 9, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration - Grand Rapids FSDO
- Case key
- 200477
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 fuel planning and his failure to adequately monitor the fuel level during the flight which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
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 pilot was conducting a personal flight when about an hour into the flight he realized that the airplane was low on fuel. The pilot decided to divert to a nearby airport where he intended to refuel. However, about 8 miles from the airport the airplane had a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and the pilot made a forced landing to a grass field. The vertical stabilizer and rudder sustained substantial damage when the airplane nosed over during the forced landing. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Additionally, the pilot acknowledged that the accident could have been prevented had he identified the airplane’s low fuel level earlier in the flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71790
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3217
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 2,649
- Engine
- Continental A-65-8, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 7, 2024 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- Y91 · Lake City, MI
- Destination
- LWA · South Haven, MI
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- July 2, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 2,688.9 total · 503 in this make and model · 2,688.9 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 4.9 in the last 30 days · 1.1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- KFFX, 8 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KFFX 051335Z AUTO 22008KT 10SM CLR 28/22 A3003 RMK AO2=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 9, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.1 MB in all.
Other investigations on N71790 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.