- Date
- July 23, 1991, 22:50 local (Jul 24, 1991, 03:50 UTC)
- Place
- Lafayette, IN
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N525PUPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910723029829A
- Case key
- 15125
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
Engine failure due to fuel exhaustion and refueling not performed by the cfi/pic.
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 CFI pilot said that while performing night takeoffs and landings, they had a loss of power. The forced landing resulted in a landing in the tree tops. Post accident investigation revealed the aircraft had flown about 5.7 hours since refueling and the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N525PU
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2841190
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D3G, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Purdue University
- Departed
- LAF · Lafayette, IN
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
- 24
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,284 total · 691 in this make and model · 1,073 as pilot in command · 134 in the last 90 days · 59 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 350° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- LAF, 1 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.