- Date
- July 30, 1992, 18:00 local (Jul 31, 1992, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Porterville, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2519NPiper PA-38-112
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 14, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920730028239A
- Case key
- 27710
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 student pilot's inadequate preflight and inflight planning, and the failure to refuel the 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 student's statement, the aircraft was about 5 miles out from the airport descending toward the traffic pattern when the engine suddenly began to run rough and quit intermittently. The pilot was unable to affect an engine restart and the aircraft collided with orange trees about one half mile short of the runway. The student pilot was on a solo cross country round robin flight from van nuys, California, with planned stops at paso robles and Porterville for a total distance of about 400 statute miles. The distance flown from van nuys to Porterville with the stop at paso robles was about 270 miles. The investigation revealed that the student departed paso robles at about 1645 hours for Porterville and did not refuel the aircraft at paso robles. The aircraft was examined by FAA airworthiness inspectors who found no fuel in the fuel lines or carburetor bowl. No fuel spillage or odor was detected in the soil beneath the aircraft. The fuel tanks were ruptured in the impact sequence with the orange trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2519N
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-112
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-79A0887
- Airframe hours
- 5,597
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- California Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Casi, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 23, 1992 · 56 hours before
- Departed
- PRB · Paso Robles, CA
- Flight plan
- Company 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
- 26
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 52 total · 45 in this make and model · 13 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 97 °F, dew point 48 °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.