- Date
- October 31, 1983, 00:30 local (04:30 UTC)
- Place
- Skaneateles, NY
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N89940Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 35458
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 pilot stated that after returning from a x-ctry flight he was unable to activate the arpt rwy lights. Low on fuel, the engine quit while he searched for a place to land. He executed a forced landing into an open field. The pilot statedhe should not have trusted the fuel gauges and should have gotten more familiar with the fuel consumption characteristics of the acft before the night x-ctry flight. According to the airport owner at least one aircraft did activate the lights on the same night of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89940
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Airframe hours
- 1,261
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Charles F. Demayo
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 26, 1983 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- Richmond, VA
- Destination
- Marcellus, NY
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 67 total · 40 in this make and model · 49 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F