- Date
- June 11, 1989, 13:20 local (18:20 UTC)
- Place
- Kaufman, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N24258Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 29, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890611015199A
- Case key
- 22880
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
Student pilot inadvertently becoming lost/disoriented and exhausting the fuel in the fuel system.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot was sent on a solo cross-country flight with an airplane that was less than full. He was told that the airplane had been flown 1.5 hours since it had been topped off with fuel. He flew the airplane for one hour and fifty minutes before the engine stopped due to fuel exhaustion and made a forced landing on a road. During the landing on the road, the airplane ran off the side, hit a ditch and then a utility pole. Later it was determined the airplane had been flown 2.5 hours before the student pilot received it for his flight. He was able to keep it airborne longer than normal for the amount of fuel he started with. The student pilot stated he had been unable to locate his airport due to flooded conditions and a faulty radio, and that he was returning to his departure airport when the engine stopped producing power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24258
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15280178
- Airframe hours
- 4,640
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Cothron Aviation Inc.
- Registered owner
- Cothron Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 12, 1989 · 76 hours before
- Departed
- F54 · Arlington, TX
- Destination
- TYR · Tyler, TX
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- NONE
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
- 24
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 47 total · 47 in this make and model · 9 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N24258 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.