- Date
- February 6, 2026, 11:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Palmetto, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N528CStinson 108-3
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern base: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 11, 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
- 20260206004369A
- Case key
- 202409
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 fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 1
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
Before the accident flight, the pilot added 4 gallons of automotive fuel from a gas can to the airplane and planned to fly to another airport to obtain fuel, as none was available at the departure airport. Upon reaching the destination airport, the pilot attempted to land, but then performed a go-around due to the wind conditions. While on the base leg of the traffic pattern for the second landing approach, the engine lost power completely. The pilot then performed a forced landing to a field, during which the airplane’s landing gear struck an irrigation ditch and it nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing struts, the tail, and the forward fuselage. Following the accident, the pilot reported that when the airplane was being recovered from the field, only a trace amount of fuel could be drained from the fuel tanks. The pilot also stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that the airplane was, “…obviously out of fuel.”
Aircraft
- Registration
- N528C
- Reported as
- Stinson 108-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 108-3528
- Built
- 1955
- Airframe hours
- 2,599.3
- Engine
- Franklin 6A4-165-B3, 165 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 2025 · 41 hours before
- Departed
- FD77 · Wimauma, FL
- Destination
- 48X · Palmetto, FL
- Airport
- 48X · Manatee, runway 7, 3,120 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B, 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
- 77
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 20, 2026
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 210 in this make and model · 3,500 as pilot in command · 35 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.13 inHg
- Observed at
- SPG, 9 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KSPG 061553Z 28005KT 10SM CLR 14/03 A3013 RMK AO2 SLP204 T01390028
Docket · 7
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 11, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.8 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.