LAX94LA014

The private pilot was returning from a round robin VFR personal flight after an unplanned landing at an en route airport. The pilot estimated that the on-board fuel was sufficient to make the flight to the destination airport with a 35-minute reserve. The airplane lost engine power due to fuel exhaustion when the flight was about 35 miles from the destination airport. The airplane nosed over during the forced landing.

On October 15, 1993, at 1140 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 150, N6538T, nosed over in an open desert 14 miles north of Daggett, California, during an emergency landing. The emergency landing was precipitated by a total loss of engine power. The pilot was conducting a visual flight rules personal flight to the Barstow-Daggett Airport, Daggett, California. The airplane, operated by Barstow Aviation, Daggett, California, sustained substantial damage. The certificated private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Barstow-Daggett Airport, at 0600 hours and landed at McCarran International Airport (hereafter referred to as McCarran), Las Vegas, Nevada. The pilot reported that he departed McCarran at 0703 hours and flew to Stovepipe Wells Airport, Death Valley, California; the flight departed Stovepipe Wells Airport at 1030 hours.

The operator reported in a telephone interview conducted on October 19, 1993, that his examination disclosed no evidence of any fuel in the airplane. The operator further stated that the airplane's fuel system was not compromised and that there was no evidence of any fuel spillage. The operator would not provide the Safety Board with the airplane's dispatch record indicating the airplane's departure hobbsmeter reading or the hobbsmeter reading at the time of the accident.

The pilot reported that the flight originated at Barstow-Daggett Airport at 0500 hours on a round-robin flight to McCarran and return. After landing at McCarran at 0615 hours, the pilot added 6 gallons of gasoline. The pilot said that the addition of the fuel brought the fuel level to 22 gallons of usable fuel as he estimated that the airplane consumed 7 gallons of fuel during the flight from Daggett to McCarran.

At 0703 hours, the pilot departed McCarran on a return flight to Daggett. Shortly after departing McCarran, the pilot elected to fly to Stovepipe Wells Airport. The flight landed at Stovepipe Wells Airport at 0855 hours. The flight then departed Stovepipe Wells Airport at 1030 hours for the return flight to the Barstow-Daggett Airport. The pilot said that his fuel calculations indicated that the airplane would land at the Barstow-Daggett Airport with a 35-minute reserve.

When the flight was about 35 miles from the destination airport at 4,500 feet mean sea level, the right fuel tank gauge indicated empty; the left fuel tank gauge indicate about one quarter. At 1135 hours, the engine experienced a total loss of engine power.

The pilot did not provide the Safety Board with the passenger's name or address.

A helicopter from the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Air Operations Unit, Daggett, California, responded to the accident site. The pilot told the CHP pilot that "...the airplane ran out of gas."