- Date
- March 19, 1989, 21:58 local (Mar 20, 1989, 05:58 UTC)
- Place
- San Jose, CA
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N49925Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 19, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890319004079A
- Case key
- 26353
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
Improper in-flight planning/decision by the pilot and subsequent fuel exhaustion. Contributing factors were: dark night,trees, and the building.
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
At 1830 PST, the plt took off from van nuys, CA, on a flt to oakland, CA, with a planned passenger stop at hayward, CA. He stated that at about 2150 PST, before reaching hayward, the eng lost power. He turned toward the nearest arpt, which was at San Jose, CA, but was unable to reach it. Drg an emerg landing at night, the acft collided with trees & a bldg, then came to rest in a parking lot. Drg a post-acdnt exam of the acft, only about 1-1/4 gal of fuel was found remaining. According to the Cessna operating manual, 1-1/2 gal of fuel was considered to be unusable. There was no indication of fuel leakage from the acft after the acdnt & no mechanical failure or malfunction was reported.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N49925
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15211398
- Airframe hours
- 1,792
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Sierra Academy Of Aeronautics
- Registered owner
- Norris Everett
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 27, 1988 · 63 hours before
- Departed
- VNY · Van Nuys, CA
- Destination
- OAK · Oakland, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 23
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 193 total · 100 in this make and model · 145 as pilot in command · 47 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 300° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.