MIA00LA051

The cross country instructional flight departed Venice, Florida, with the intention of conducting a touch-and-go landing at Florida Southwest International Airport, Fort Myers, and proceeding to Tallahassee to refuel and return. The flight proceeded as planned to within 10 miles southeast of Tallahassee and sustained an engine stoppage. The forced landing resulted in collision with trees. Subsequent FAA examination of the crash site revealed 1.5 quarts of fuel aboard and no evidence of fuel spill. Examination of the engine and airframe components by an FAA inspector revealed no irregularities.

On December 14, 1999, about 2045 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N460TC, registered to Florida Flight Training Center, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, crashed while approaching Tallahassee Regional Airport, Tallahassee, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the private-rated pilot and a passenger received minor injuries. The flight departed Venice, Florida, about 3 hours 45 minutes before the accident.

According to the pilot, a French national and student of Florida Flight Training Center, Venice, Florida, reportedly working on his commercial pilot rating, he departed Venice Municipal Airport at about 1700, proceeded to and conducted a touch-and-go landing at Southwest Florida International Airport, Fort Myers, at about 1730, and continued northwest near the Florida west coast shoreline to Tallahassee. The pilot stated that his recollection of events stopped after passing the Cedar Key airport beacon, or about 120 miles southeast of Tallahassee. He stated to his chief pilot, subsequent to the accident, that he did not employ fuel mixture leaning.

The passenger, a German national and fellow student of the same flight school, stated that the flight maintained 2,650 feet msl, throughout the cruise portion of the flight and that the fuel gages indicated zero on the left tank and, "something under 1/4 " on the right when the engine stopped running.

The chief pilot stated that their ground school recommends calculating 6.0 gallons/hour as a preflight planning cruise fuel consumption for cross-country flights, (flight testing of their Cessna 152 fleet yielded about 5.8 gallons/hour). Additionally, the ground school recommends that no fuel mixture leaning be employed below 3,000 feet msl. A preflight planning log of the trip was attached to the pilot's statement, in the same handwriting as the statement. Analysis of the fuel consumption figures revealed that the cruise fuel flow calculated by the pilot was 5.3 to 5.5 gallons/hour. In addition, errors in identifiers of checkpoints on the flight log were revealed.

According to Tallahassee FAA Approach Control Radar facility audio tapes of communications between N460TC and the facility, the flight was 29 miles southeast of the airport at 2,600 feet msl, and they directed him to fly present heading for the airport. At about 10 miles southeast, the pilot declared an emergency and said he lost his engine and could not make the airport. Shortly, thereafter the radar controller saw the airplane's radar return turn south, descend to 300 feet, then disappear. Another airplane in the area reported a strong emergency locator transmission.

According to an FAA inspector, upon arrival on the scene the next morning, there was no odor of fuel present, 1.5 quarts of fuel were drained from the right tank, no fuel was contained in the left tank, and the fuel filter screens were clean. All flight controls revealed continuity, and the oil filter revealed no metal particles. Both wing spars and the empennage had received tree impact damage. Attempts to interview the pilot had negative results due to his reported memory lapse.