- Date
- May 10, 1992, 07:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Casa Grande, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N115DMMcquen Glassair III
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 27640
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 starvation due to the pilot's misreading of a newly installed fuel selector panel with placards and a position pointer which were confusing. Factors in the accident were the confusing nature of the fuel panel and placard design and the school bus which suddenly turned in front of the landing aircraft.
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
According to the pilot, the aircraft had just come out of a maintenance period where placards were installed on the fuel selector panel. The fuel selector has a handle and a pointer, which, according to the pilot, are similar in shape and size. The pilot said that he had never moved the fuel selector valve from the main tank position since he purchased the aircraft. The valve was apparently found in the 'header tank' position after the accident. The header tank only holds 4 gallons of fuel and is for emergency use only. The pilot thought the fuel selector was positioned to the main tank. The aircraft had been airborne for 15 minutes when the engine suddenly quit. The pilot lined up for a landing on a road, however, when the aircraft was on short final a school bus turned onto the road directly in front of the aircraft. The pilot turned left to avoid colliding with the bus and hit a large tree.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N115DM
- Reported as
- Mcquen Glassair III (GLASSAIR I)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 3029
- Airframe hours
- 122
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-R, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Charles J. Rothweiler
- Registered owner
- Charles J. Rothweiler
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 1992 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- CHD · Chandler, AZ
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
- 56
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,250 total · 12 in this make and model · 1,250 as pilot in command · 52 in the last 90 days · 32 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
Other investigations on N115DM · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.