- Date
- June 16, 2024, 15:35 local (19:35 UTC)
- Place
- Eastham, MA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2710UCessna 172
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: 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
- 20240616007409A
- Case key
- 194508
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 inspection of the airplane’s fuel quantity, which resulted in total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 2
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
In preparation for a local revenue sightseeing flight with two passengers, the pilot performed a preflight inspection of the airplane and used a generic fuel quantity dipstick that required converting the observed quantity to an actual quantity using a conversion chart. The pilot stated that he inadvertently arrived at an inaccurate quantity; instead of the 12 gallons of fuel he believed was on-board, the airplane likely only had 6 to 7 gallons. About 20 minutes into the scheduled 30-minute flight, the engine lost power completely, and the pilot subsequently performed a forced landing to a nearby beach. During the landing roll the nose landing gear collapsed resulting substantial damage to an engine mount tube. As part of the recovery from the beach, less than 1.5 gallons of fuel were drained from both of the airplane’s intact fuel tanks. A postaccident check of each fuel quantity indicating system revealed each gauge indicated empty with the fuel sending unit fully extended.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2710U
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (D)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17250310
- Built
- 1963
- Airframe hours
- 9,538
- Engine
- Continental O-300D, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 3, 2023 · 99 hours before
- Departed
- CQX · Chatham, MA
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B
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
- 26
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 4, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 270 total · 4 in this make and model · 155 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.25 inHg
- Observed at
- KPVC, 17 nm away
- METAR
- KPVC 161956Z AUTO 04006KT 10SM CLR 19/11 A3025 RMK AO2 SLP244 T01890106
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 2, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.0 MB 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.