- Date
- October 25, 1990, 12:47 local (16:47 UTC)
- Place
- Orlando, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N21175Piper PA-28-181
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901025047069A
- Case key
- 32787
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
Inadequate planning by the pilot.
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 plt stated he performed fuel consumption calculations for the flt & determined that the endurace according to the acft performance charts, was 5 hrs 42 minutes. The flt departed with full fuel tanks & when it was aprx 6 miles north of the destination arpt, the eng began to run rough then quit. He restarted it & advised ATC that the acft was low on fuel but the eng quit again. He was unable to restart it & due to unsuitable terrain, elected to ditch the acft in a lake short of the arpt. All occupants escaped the acft & were rescued a short time later. The elapsed time from departure to the accident was 4 hrs 32 minutes. The plt further stated that the acft's clock was 30-40 minutes slow & the fuel gauges were inaccurate. He stated his procedure for leaning the fuel/air mixture is to pull the mixture control until the eng begins to run rough then push it in until the eng runs smooth. The acft's performance charts use an EGT gage (which was installed) as a reference.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N21175
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-181
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7990037
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Quantico Marine Corps Flying
- Registered owner
- Harmon, Robert & Sharon E.
- Departed
- EQY · Monroe, NC
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
- 29
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 145 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ORL, 2 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N21175 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.