- Date
- September 5, 2022, 15:55 local (19:55 UTC)
- Place
- Ivanhoe, NC · Corn field
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N35243Cessna 177B
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20220905020259A
- Case key
- 105902
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 inadequate preflight and inflight planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was returning from a cross-country flight and planned to stop for fuel along the way; however, due to deteriorating weather conditions along his route of flight, he was unable to stop. The pilot then became distracted trying to avoid weather when the airplane’s engine lost power. The pilot further described that, “We should have landed at the nearest clear airport but got fixated on dodging rain clouds causing time consuming maneuvers to go around the storms into headwinds and unaware of fuel reserves.” He subsequently performed a forced landing to a field and struck a ditch resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane’s intact fuel tanks revealed they were empty of useable fuel. Given this information, it is likely that during the unplanned deviations around weather, the airplane’s usable fuel supply was exhausted, which resulted in the total loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35243
- Reported as
- Cessna 177B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17702287
- Built
- 1975
- Airframe hours
- 4,172.4
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1F6D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 2022 · 8.1 hours before
- Departed
- FFA · Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Destination
- EYF · Elizabethtown, NC
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Handheld GPS
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
- 73
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Last flight review
- October 3, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 339 total · 113 in this make and model · 15 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KEYF, 17 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KEYF 051955Z AUTO 16008KT 10SM SCT045 31/20 A3002
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 27, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 790 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.