- Date
- May 20, 1997, 16:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Groveland, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N19315Cessna 150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 2, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970520045759A
- Case key
- 29793
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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Probable cause
was fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident was the lack of preflight review by the student's flight instructor and training.
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 student pilot was on an endorsed solo cross-country flight and made an unplanned stop en-route. He did not refuel at the stop. According to the Hobbs recording hour meter he had operated the airplane for 4 hours. Upon arriving at his destination he attempted a go-around during which the engine failed. The operator/instructor stated that he had run the airplane out of fuel. The pilot operator handbook gives an endurance of 4.1 hours at 75 percent power and 7,000 feet for the installed fuel system.
Factual narrative
On May 20, 1997, about 1600 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 150, N19315, operated by Hi Desert Flight Center of Victorville, California, was destroyed during a go-around at Groveland, California. The student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at Victorville on the morning of the accident as an endorsed student pilot solo cross-country flight.
According to the student pilot, the engine failed during the go-around from runway 09 at Groveland.
The operator stated that the Hobbs recording hour meter indicated 278.7 hours at departure. At the accident site the hour meter indicated 282.7 hours, or 4 hours of operation. According to the performance specifications listed in the pilot operator handbook for this airplane, the cruise range at 75 percent power at 7,000 feet with 22.5 gallons had an endurance of 4.1 hours. This airplane holds 26 gallons with 22.5 usable. According to the operator/instructor, the pilot ran the airplane out of fuel.
The planned route of flight had been from Victorville, Palmdale, Bakersfield, Friant, to Groveland. The student had made an unplanned restroom stop at Porterville, but did not add fuel.
The accident report was received completed, but unsigned, and listed a departure time from Victorville as 1100. Neither the student nor the operator/instructor could recall exactly when the airplane departed Victorville. Initial requests of the operator/instructor for the student's actual takeoff time and preflight planning information was not available.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N19315
- Reported as
- Cessna 150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15074331
- Airframe hours
- 2,871
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Hi Desert Flight Center
- Registered owner
- Angela Boylan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 1997 · 97 hours before
- Departed
- VCV · Victorville, CA
- Destination
- Q68 · CA
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 18 in this make and model · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KMO
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.