- Date
- October 21, 1984, 19:45 local (Oct 22, 1984, 02:45 UTC)
- Place
- Palo Alto, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N61739Cessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19841021060689A
- Case key
- 24584
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
Loss of pwr occurred on final apch. Acft contacted a dike during forced landing collapsing the nose gear. Plt said direct route was flown at 10,500 ft MSL descending lower after crossing mountainous area. Plt did not lean mixture during flt or report which fuel tank was selected when power loss occurred. 1 gal fuel was found in left tank and 5 gals in rt tank. Unusable fuel for each tank is 2 1/2 gals.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N61739
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17264765
- Airframe hours
- 2,540
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2H, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Michael Frankson
- Registered owner
- Bob Fredericks
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 18, 1984 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- SMO · Santa Monica, CA
- Airport
- PAO · Palo Alto, runway 30, 2,500 × 65 ft, dirt
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 281 total · 54 in this make and model · 178 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 290° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Temperature
- 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.