- Date
- December 31, 2005, 19:36 local (Jan 1, 2006, 01:36 UTC)
- Place
- Tulsa, OK
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N18132Cessna 150L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20051231029819A
- Case key
- 63020
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 preflight planning and preparation, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to 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 519-hour private pilot departed on a 307-nautical mile round-robin cross country flight in a single-engine airplane. During the return flight, the pilot elected to land at an intermediate airport to purchase additional fuel; however, it was a national holiday and no one answered his repeated calls to the "after-hours" phone number. The pilot then asked another pilot where the closest airport was located so he could purchase fuel, and was informed of an airport about 20 miles away. The pilot proceeded to fly towards that airport but was unable to make radio contact with someone at the fixed base operator (FBO) to help him purchase additional fuel. The pilot then elected to fly to much larger airport about 34.4 nautical miles beyond his position, where he knew he could purchase fuel. The pilot stated that he encountered a significant headwind, but calculated that he had sufficient fuel on-board to complete the flight. When the airplane was established on final approach, the engine stopped producing power and the airplane impacted trees and terrain about a mile short of the runway. Examination of the airplane's fuel system revealed there was 1.5 gallons of fuel onboard at the time of the accident.
Factual narrative
The 519-hour private pilot departed on a 307-nautical mile round-robin cross country flight in a single-engine airplane. During the return flight, the pilot elected to land at an intermediate airport to purchase additional fuel; however, it was a national holiday and no one answered his repeated calls to the "after-hours" phone number. The pilot then asked another pilot where the closest airport was located so he could purchase fuel, and was informed of an airport about 20 miles away. The pilot proceeded to fly towards that airport but was unable to make radio contact with someone at the fixed base operator (FBO) to help him purchase additional fuel. The pilot then elected to fly to much larger airport about 34.4 nautical miles beyond his position, where he knew he could purchase fuel. The pilot stated that he encountered a significant headwind, but calculated that he had sufficient fuel on-board to complete the flight. When the airplane was established on final approach, the engine stopped producing power and the airplane impacted trees and terrain about a mile short of the runway. Examination of the airplane revealed there was 1.5 gallons of fuel onboard at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N18132
- Reported as
- Cessna 150L
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15073810
- Engine
- Continental O-200, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Prairie Air Service Inc
- Registered owner
- Prairie Air Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- BVO · Bartlesville, OK
- Destination
- TUL · Tulsa, OK
- Airport
- TUL · Tulsa International, runway 18
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
- 54
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 519 total · 100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.