- Date
- May 31, 1991, 06:20 local (11:20 UTC)
- Place
- Grundy Center, IA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3663SCessna 172E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910531018619A
- Case key
- 15084
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
Failure by other maintenance personnel to install a safety wire and fuel exhaustion.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot of a single engine airplane reported the engine sputtering 30 minutes after takeoff on a cross country flight. He contacted an approach control facility and obtained a steer to the nearest airfield, but lost all engine power and landed in a farm field. The wreckage showed fuel stains along the lower fuselage from firewall aft. Fuel stains commenced at the fuel strainer. The strainer bowl had no safety wire installed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3663S
- Reported as
- Cessna 172E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17250863
- Airframe hours
- 4,020
- Engine
- Continental O-300-D, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert Willett
- Registered owner
- Robert Willett
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 2, 1991 · 38 hours before
- Departed
- DSM · Des Moines, IA
- Destination
- INL · Intern'L Falls, MN
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
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 754 total · 670 in this make and model · 705 as pilot in command · 32 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 130° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ALO, 25 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.