FTW94LA284

A private pilot flew for three hours and thirty minutes on a cross country flight that was planned to be five hours in duration. After losing engine power, the pilot attempted a forced landing onto a lake spillway but overshot his intended point of landing. The airplane came to rest twenty feet above the ground in trees. Upon examination of the wreckage, there was no evidence of usable fuel in the fuel tanks and no evidence of fuel spillage. Total flight time since refueling was 7.6 hours. The manufacturers fuel consumption data indicates that at 55% power setting, endurance is approximately 7.6 hours.

On August 29, 1994, at 1830 central daylight time, a Cessna 152, N44687, was substantially damaged during a forced landing near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The solo private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records the pilot's route of flight was from Arkadelphia Municipal Airport (M89), to Texarkana Regional-Webb Field (TXK), to Memorial Field (HOT), in Hot Springs, AR, and returning to Arkadelphia Municipal Airport.

The pilot reported that when he preflighted the airplane at Arkadelphia, "all systems were normal", and the "gauges reflected full fuel tanks." Upon completing his planned route of flight to Arkadelphia, he decided to tour Lake DeGray at 1400 feet MSL. As he started to depart the lake area, the engine RPM dropped and then went back to normal. Then the engine "started to sputter" and the RPM dropped again but did not return to normal. The mixture was checked, the throttle was increased, but these actions were ineffective, and the engine lost power. At this point the engine was running but the airplane could not sustain flight. While maneuvering to land, the pilot "spotted a spillway and turned left to intercept." He then added 10 degrees of flaps, and realized that he was too high and too close to a rock wall to make a landing on the spillway. As the pilot turned left to make the approach from the opposite direction, the engine "quit completely in the turn." The airplane then collided with trees and came to rest 20 feet above the ground.

Fueling records for N44687 revealed that the airplane was last refueled at 1540 on August 25, 1994. Since that refueling, the airplane logged 7.6 hours of time on the Hobbs meter. 4.1 hours of that Hobbs time was logged on August 26, 1994, and 3.5 hours (accident flight) was logged on August 29, 1994. There is no record of the airplane flying on the 27th or 28th of August and no record of refueling since August 25, 1994. The aircraft was configured to hold 37.5 gallons of usable fuel. Cessna manufacturer's data states that, for 37.5 gallons of usable fuel at 55% power setting, this airplane has an endurance of approximately 7.6 hours.

Examination of the airplane wreckage at the accident site revealed that the left tank fuel supply line was broken due to impact damage and showed no evidence of fuel. The right fuel tank supply line was intact and had fuel in the line. However; there was no evidence of usable fuel in either the left or the right fuel tanks. The empennage and wings were structurally damaged, but there was no evidence of fuel spillage.