ERA24LA101

During the first leg of a cross-country flight, the pilot observed that the fuel level indication was lower than expected. She elected to divert to a nearby airport where she topped off the airplane with 13 gallons of fuel, for a total fuel load of 22.5 usable gallons. About 3 ½ hours into the next leg of the flight, the pilot elected to divert to a closer airport to fuel the airplane again. As the pilot entered the airport traffic pattern, she overshot the final approach course and continued to circle for another attempt. During the maneuver, the engine lost all power and she was unable to troubleshoot due to the low altitude. The pilot then attempted to land on a taxiway, but during the landing flare the airplane struck a berm, collapsing the gear and substantially damaging the airframe before coming to rest. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that only the unusable quantity of fuel remained in the fuel tanks and no fuel was discovered in the gascolator. Examination of the engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Postaccident fuel consumption calculations for the takeoff and cruise portions of the accident flight also confirmed that available fuel quantity would have been exhausted at the time of the accident.

On January 15, 2024, at 1448 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150M, N7682U, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Venango Regional Airport (FKL), Franklin, Pennsylvania. The private pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The pilot stated that she arrived at Beverly Regional Airport (BVY), Beverly, Massachusetts at 0600 and conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane with no irregularities found and then began the solo visual flight rules cross-country flight about 0730. The flight consisted of multiple legs with her final destination planned for Coleman A Young Municipal Airport (DET), Detroit, Michigan. The pilot was accompanied by a pet pig that weighed about 50 lbs. About 90 minutes into the flight, the pilot diverted to Albany International Airport (ALB), Albany, New York, because the airplane’s fuel quantity indicated lower than expected. Upon landing, she fueled the airplane with 13 gallons of aviation fuel, for a total fuel load of 22.5 gallons usable fuel, then resumed the flight to Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport (YNG), Youngstown/Warren, Ohio, about 320 miles to the west. According to ADS-B data, the pilot took off from ALB about 1044 eastern standard time. About 3 1/2 hours and 255 nm into the flight, she diverted to FKL, about 40 nm closer than YNG. After notifying air traffic control of her intentions, she began a descent for landing at FKL. The pilot reported that the reason for the diversion was to get fuel because the fuel was less expensive than at YNG. The pilot initiated a descent about 30 nm from the airport and arrived in the airport traffic pattern intending to land on runway 21. She overshot the final approach and continued to circle over the airport. During the maneuver, the throttle stopped responding to any input and there was a total loss of engine power. Too low to troubleshoot, she attempted to land the airplane on taxiway F. Before reaching the intended landing area, the airplane struck a berm to the east of the taxiway and came to rest. The accident occurred at 1448 eastern standard time. An FAA inspector examined the airplane after the accident and found that the fuselage was severely buckled from the main landing gear forward. Both fuel tanks remained intact and, and when drained, contained a total of about 3 1/2 gallons of fuel; according to the airplane’s pilot operating handbook (POH), the unusable fuel was 3 1/2 gallons (the fuel tanks had a 26-gallon capacity, with 22.5 gallons of that fuel usable). The gascolator was empty. Engine powertrain continuity was confirmed through crankshaft rotation and pressure gauge compression was sufficiently achieved on each cylinder. The spark plug electrodes appeared normal with no fouling or anomalies noted and the magnetos were manually rotated and achieved spark at each post. The propeller remained intact and did not have any gouges or chordwisescraping. The ADS-B data showed that the airplane’s groundspeed during the en route portion of the flight averaged about 72 kts. Fuel calculations based on the POH performance data indicated that with the pilot’s en route altitude of 4,000 and 5,000 ft msl, a flight track of 255°, and calculated winds that were from 247 at 16 kts, the airplane would have had an endurance of about 3.75 hours with full fuel tanks; however, this endurance was dependent on fuel mixture leaning settings. The data showed that the airplane was airborne about 4 hours.