- Date
- June 30, 2018, 16:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Panama City, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N89887Cessna 152
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel exhaustion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 18, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20180630015799A
- Case key
- 97753
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 improper preflight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a subsequent total loss of engine power.
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
The pilot reported that, 15 minutes into a cross-country flight, the airplane's engine lost rpm. He added power, and the engine regained rpm briefly before losing all power. The pilot selected a dirt road for an emergency landing, during which the nose landing gear touched down on a soft surface, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left and right wings and the front windshield. The pilot reported that the airplane had 4.5 gallons of fuel on board at the last takeoff. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector reported that, during postaccident examination of the airplane, the fuel tanks were found empty. The gascolator had residual fuel, and about 1 gallon of fuel was removed from the fuselage fuel drain. He added that, according to the manufacturer's specifications, the airplane should have had 1.5 gallons of unusable fuel. He turned on the airplane's master power switch to view the fuel quantity gauge indications, and the left-wing tank gauge indicated between empty and a quarter full with no fuel in the tank, and the right-wing fuel tank gauge indicated empty.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that, 15 minutes into a cross-country flight, the airplane's engine lost rpm. He added power and the engine regained rpm briefly, before losing all power. The pilot selected a dirt road for an emergency landing. Subsequently, during landing on a dirt road, the nose landing gear touched down on a soft surface, and the airplane nosed over. The pilot reported on the NTSB form 6120.1 that the airplane had 4.5 gallons of fuel on board at the last takeoff. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left and right wings, and the front windshield. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector reported that, during the postaccident examination of the airplane, the fuel tanks were found empty. The gascolator had residual fuel, and about 1 gallon of fuel was removed from the fuselage fuel drain. He added that according to the manufacturer's specifications the accident airplane should have 1.5 gallons of unusable fuel. He turned on the airplane's master power switch to view the fuel quantity gauge indications, and the left-wing tank gauge indicated between empty and a quarter full with no fuel in the tank, and the right-wing fuel tank gauge indicated empty.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89887
- Reported as
- Cessna 152 (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15282904
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 6,735.7
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L26, 125 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 26, 2017
- Departed
- DTS · Destin, FL
- Destination
- ECP · Panama City, FL
- Equipment
- 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
- 25
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 25, 2018
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 198 total · 67 in this make and model · 134 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Observed at
- KECP, 3 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 29, 2018, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 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.