- Date
- November 29, 1991, 21:15 local (Nov 30, 1991, 02:15 UTC)
- Place
- Zephyrhills, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9064MCessna 210M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 27, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911129053819A
- Case key
- 33036
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
Improper placement of the fuel selector by the pilot-in-command resulting in the total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. Contributing to the accident was an incorrect fuel quantity gage, the dark night condition, and unsuitable terrain encountered.
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
Appx 20 minutes after takeoff during cruise flt, the eng quit due to fuel starvation. The plt repositioned the fuel selector & attempted to restart the eng but was unsuccessful. During the emergency descent while on a dark night, the acft collided with trees, then the ground & came to rest. The lt fuel tank was drained which revealed that it contained appx 7 gals of fuel. The rt fuel tank, which was not damaged, was empty. There was no evidence of fuel siphoning through the fuel caps. The rt wing fuel vent was examined & found to be blocked by an unk object but both fuel tanks had vented fuel caps installed. Both caps ops checked good. The eng was removed from the accident acft & placed on another acft for an eng run. The eng was started and found to operate normally. The plt reported that at the time of the loss of power, the fuel selector was positioned to the lt tank.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9064M
- Reported as
- Cessna 210M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21062057
- Engine
- Continental IO-520L, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Cherokee Express Air Cargo
- Registered owner
- Cherokee Leasing, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · November 22, 1991 · 9 hours before
- Departed
- TPA · Tampa, FL
- Destination
- ORL · Orlando, FL
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
- 32
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,266 total · 70 in this make and model · 2,234 as pilot in command · 70 in the last 90 days · 36 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
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 N9064M · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.