- Date
- October 11, 2024, 18:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Nicklesville, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N357PCDitsler Paul A Dakota Hawk
- 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
- 20241011015889A
- Case key
- 195307
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, fuel planning, and improper fuel management during flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and a subsequent off-airport hard landing.
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
During a cross-country flight, about 12 miles from of his destination the pilot stated that the engine lost all power “due to fuel exhaustion.” The pilot conducted a forced landing to a field, during which the landing gear collapsed due to the airplane’s “excessive vertical speed.” The airplane’s wings and fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot further stated that he failed to check the airplane’s fuel levels prior to or during the flight. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N357PC
- Reported as
- Ditsler Paul A Dakota Hawk
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- DH106
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 154
- Engine
- Rotax 912S, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · May 4, 2024 · 24 hours before
- Departed
- 9A0 · Dahlonega, GA
- Destination
- CZL · Calhoun, GA
- Airport
- N/A
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 23, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 517 total · 16 in this make and model · 458 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.16 inHg
- Observed at
- DNN, 16 nm away
- METAR
- KDNN 112215Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 23/07 A3016 RMK AO2 T02290066
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.2 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.