- Date
- September 18, 1999, 13:36 local (19:36 UTC)
- Place
- Murray, UT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N65602Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 23, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990918027669A
- Case key
- 47417
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
A forced landing on unsuitable terrain. Factors were fuel exhaustion and inaccurate preflight planning by the flight instructor.
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 was giving the student pilot a mountain checkout and after approximately 1.6 hours of flight, the engine lost power. An emergency descent and was made to a field and the aircraft struck trees during the landing roll. The CFI said they had approximately 13 gallons of fuel on board at departure and the flight manual provides information that the aircraft uses approximately 6 gallons of fuel per hour in cruise flight and approximately 3.5 gallons of fuel is unusable. Following the accident, an FAA inspector examined the aircraft and drained approximately 1.4 gallons of fuel from the tanks. He found no evidence of a fuel leak nor evidence of engine malfunction.
Factual narrative
On September 18, 1999, at 1336 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 152, N65602, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing at Murray, Utah. The certified flight instructor and student pilot occupants were not injured. The flight was being operated under Title 14 CFR Part 91 as an instructional flight and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this local area flight which reportedly departed Salt Lake City at 1236.
The flight instructor said he was giving the student pilot a mountain checkout and after about 1.6 hours of flight, the engine began to lose power. An emergency landing was conducted to a field and the aircraft struck trees during the landing roll. Damage to the propeller, left wing spar, fuselage, windscreen, lower engine cowl and nose landing gear resulted from impact with the trees.
According to the pilot operating manual for the aircraft, approximately 3.5 gallons of fuel is unusable and performance information provided evidence that the average fuel consumption in cruise flight is approximately 6.0 gallons per hour.
The flight instructor said he visually examined the tanks during preflight after he noted that the gauges read slightly more than 1/2 tank fuel quantity. He estimated, based on his visual examination of the tanks, that there was approximately 13 gallons of fuel aboard the aircraft at departure. The actual fuel quantity aboard at departure was unknown.
Following the accident the aircraft was examined by a FAA Inspector, who drained 1.4 gallons of fuel from the aircraft. He found no evidence of fuel leaks or engine abnormalities during his examination.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N65602
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15281643
- Airframe hours
- 6,000
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 125 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Edith E. Steele
- Registered owner
- Raul W. Smith
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 1, 1998 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- U42 · Salt Lake City, UT
- Destination
- SLC · UT
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
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 2,562 total · 122 in this make and model · 1,762 as pilot in command · 98 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SLC, 10 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.