- Date
- June 22, 1991, 21:54 local (Jun 23, 1991, 04:54 UTC)
- Place
- Rio Vista, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N1029HPiper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910622029429A
- Case key
- 27258
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
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilots improper fuel consumption calculations and inadequate preflight planning.
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 pilot said he had the aircraft refueled to maximum tank capacity prior to departing from sacramento at 1720 hours. The aircraft flew to alturas, where it landed at 1920 hours. After a brief stop to deplane one passenger, the aircraft departed alturas at 1945 hours for the remaining leg of the flight to palo alto. At 2154 hours, the engine quit while the aircraft was over the Rio Vista airport. The pilot said he attempted a power off forced landing at the airport and overshot the runway. The aircraft landed long, ran off the end of the runway and through two fences. The Rio Vista fire department responded immediately to the accident site. According to the fire department personnel who arrived at the scene, no fuel remained in the tanks and there was no evidence of fuel spillage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1029H
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7790278
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Parker, David W.
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- O00 · Alturas, CA
- Destination
- PAO · Palo Alto, CA
- Airport
- 088 · Rio Vista, runway 7, 3,060 × 60 ft, asphalt
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
- 27
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 305 total · 100 in this make and model · 225 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 70° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.