- Date
- July 8, 1991, 22:39 local (Jul 9, 1991, 05:39 UTC)
- Place
- Indian Springs, NV
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5533BCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910709027249A
- Case key
- 27278
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 improper preflight planning, and failure to refuel the aircraft. Factors in the accident were: 1) the pilot becoming lost/disoriented ; 2) the dark night conditions; 3) the failure of the pilot to seek help in a timely fashion; and 4) the loss of his eyeglasses with the resultant visual problems.
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 was flying a night cross-country when he encountered turbulence and heavy rain. He said that he became disoriented because of the darkness and weather. He said that he could not see his magnetic compass because he could not find his glasses. He said that he did not know how much time he had been flying because he lost his watch and the aircraft's clock was inoperable. After flying around disoriented for an unknown amount of time, he contacted an air traffic control facility for assistance. About five minutes after he contacted them, the aircraft ran out of fuel. The pilot entered a forced landing descent. He landed hard on the nose gear and the aircraft nosed over. FAA inspectors examined the aircraft and found less than one cup of fuel remaining in the fuel tanks. No evidence of fuel leakage could be found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5533B
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15283896
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Aerleon, Inc.
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- NONE · Furnace Creek, CA
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 300 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- 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.
Other investigations on N5533B · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.