- Date
- October 14, 1989, 20:10 local (Oct 15, 1989, 01:10 UTC)
- Place
- Waterloo, IA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N47DBCessna P210
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891014040459A
- Case key
- 34894
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
Fuel exhaustion, due to poor planning/decision, and fuel consumption calculations misjudged by the pilot in command. The fact that the runway lights were not operating & the accident occurred at night were contributing factors.
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
During a night, business, cross country flight, the pilot said that the engine quit about 8 miles from his destination airport. The destination airport control tower vectored him to the nearest airport, about 3 miles from his position. The runway lights on the grass strip were operated manually and had been turned off. The plt said he guessed at the location of the airstrip due to familiarity with the area. The acft hit a fence and came to rest at the end of the runway. Post accident investigation revealed the fuel tanks to be empty of usable fuel.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N47DB
- Reported as
- Cessna P210
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21000749
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-P, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Gateway Financial Services,Inc
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Departed
- 3SQ · St. Charles, MO
- Destination
- ALO · Waterloo, IA
- Airport
- 9C1 · East Waterloo, runway 24, 2,600 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,935 total · 210 in this make and model · 1,900 as pilot in command · 51 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 110° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Observed at
- ALO, 10 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.