- Date
- August 9, 1985, 16:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Paula, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3359VCessna 150M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850809038889A
- Case key
- 24797
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
The CFI, who was a retired airline captain, and his student pilot, embarked on a round-robin flight which included landings at four arpts. The fuel tanks were not completely filled prior to th initial departure and no additional fuel was obtained during the 2.4 hour long flight. Fuel exhaustion occurred at traffic pattern alt, one mile from the destination arpt. The CFI was unable to reach the rwy and landed in a sandy river bed 200 yards from the arpt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3359V
- Reported as
- Cessna 150M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15076473
- Airframe hours
- 3,755
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Aviation Products, Inc., doing business as Santa Paula Flight Center
- Registered owner
- Richard P. Schutze
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 8, 1984 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- SMX · Santa Paula, CA
- Destination
- SZP · Santa Paula, CA
- Airport
- SZP · Santa Paula
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
- 73
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 25,964 total · 1,100 in this make and model · 22,500 as pilot in command · 87 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.