- Date
- October 30, 1990, 17:00 local (Oct 31, 1990, 00:00 UTC)
- Place
- Silver City, NM
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8859TCessna 182C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901030047679A
- Case key
- 18053
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 improper planning which resulted in fuel starvation.
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 private pilot and his passenger were on a sight-seeing flight near Silver City, new Mexico, when the engine quit. He said that he ran the left fuel tank dry, but when he switched fuel tanks, the engine did not restart. He said that he did not have enough time/altitude to get the engine restarted before he had to concentrate on a forced landing. The landing was normal but during the ground roll the nose gear struck a hidden rock causing the nose gear to separate from the aircraft. The aircraft subsequently nosed over and damaged the empennage and the vertical stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8859T
- Reported as
- Cessna 182C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 52759
- Engine
- Continental O-470-L, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Roberts, Randy
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Departed
- LHU · Lake Havasu Cit, AZ
- Destination
- TCS · Truth Or Conseq, NM
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 330 total · 320 in this make and model · 60 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.