- Date
- September 29, 2025, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Longmont, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N86326Aeronca 11AC
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 15, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250929018349A
- Case key
- 201754
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 fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and the pilot’s improper landing flare which resulted in a hard landing.
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 there was a total loss of engine power while 1,200 feet above ground level and about 6 nautical miles short of his destination. He performed an off-airport landing, in a pasture, with cows at the far end. During short final, the pilot had to maneuver to avoid rough terrain and a fence and then flared the airplane too high and yawed to one side which resulted in a hard landing. The tailwheel collapsed and there was substantial damage to the rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. He stated that a miscalculation of fuel quantity and fuel burn led to the fuel exhaustion.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N86326
- Reported as
- Aeronca 11AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 11AC-132
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 1,717
- Engine
- Continental A65-8, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hand Flyers LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 9, 2025
- Departed
- GXY · Greeley, CO
- Destination
- LMO · Longmont, CO
- Equipment
- None
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
- 40
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 5, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,145 total · 3 in this make and model · 989 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 29 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KLMO, 3 nm away
- METAR
- KLMO 291755Z AUTO 06003KT 10SM CLR 25/07 A3015
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 15, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 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.