- Date
- December 8, 2025, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- DeLand, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N64859Cessna 172
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 17, 2026
- 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
- 20251208019799A
- Case key
- 202129
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 flight instructor’s inadequate fuel quantity inspection, 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
During a cross-country instructional flight, the airplane experienced a total loss of engine power, and the flight instructor performed a forced landing to a road about 2 miles from the destination airport. During the landing, the airplane struck trees and came to rest upright, sustaining substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. A recovery crew responded the same day and noted that both wing fuel tanks were intact but absent of fuel. An FAA inspector subsequently examined the wreckage at the recovery facility and found no fuel in the filter at the belly sump, which was the lowest point in the fuel system. The flight instructor later reported that fuel exhaustion was the likely cause of the accident. He stated that before departure, he relied on avionics, which indicated 21 gallons of fuel onboard rather than visually verifying the fuel quantity in the wing fuel tanks, and the avionics indication was likely inaccurate.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N64859
- Reported as
- Cessna 172 (P)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275636
- Built
- 1982
- Airframe hours
- 13,155
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Commuter
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 20, 2024
- Departed
- X50 · Edgewater, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- DED · DeLand Municipal Airport
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Electronic primary flight 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 50
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 16,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model · 12,000 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 30
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 865 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,400 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- DAB, 13 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KDAB 081853Z 36007KT 10SM BKN014 BKN036 19/15 A2995 RMK AO2 SLP142 T01890150
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 17, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.6 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.