- Date
- December 11, 1991, 14:15 local (19:15 UTC)
- Place
- Orford, NH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N48156Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911211059189A
- Case key
- 37119
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
The student pilot became lost and disoriented.
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 student pilot intended to fly for about 1 hour. After practicing stalls and turns he decided to do VOR tracking, when he got lost and disoriented. The pilot attempted to locate his position by ground reference and the use of sectional charts. He also attempted radio contact with fss, but was unable to make contact. After climbing to 6000 feet and flying about 80 miles southeast of his departure airport he was unable to make contact. After climbing to 6000 feet and flying about 80 miles southeast of his departure airport he identified his location. At that point, he estimated he was 1 hour from his home airport and had about one and half hours of fuel remaining. During the return flight to the home airport and about 3 hours and 30 minutes after the flight began the fuel was exhausted. The pilot made a forced landing and hit trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N48156
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15283291
- Airframe hours
- 3,704
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- David Santamore
- Registered owner
- Aviation Services Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 17, 1991 · 103 hours before
- Departed
- MPU · Montpelier, VT
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 93 total · 37 in this make and model · 41 as pilot in command · 19 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 20 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Temperature
- 45 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.