- Date
- June 29, 1990, 14:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Las Vegas, NV
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N6452PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900629023089A
- Case key
- 41226
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 the pilot's improper check of the fuel with a dipstick before takeoff, which resulted in an inadequate supply of fuel.
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
A wheels-up landing was made approximately two miles short of the destination after the pilot declared that he was out of fuel. During preflight, he had used a dipstick to check the fuel quantity. However, he had misread the dipstick, since the aircraft was parked tail-low on an incline.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6452P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1567
- Airframe hours
- 3,608
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1C5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald W. Morrill
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 1990 · 48 hours before
- Departed
- U55 · Panguitch, UT
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LAS · Mccarran, runway 25, 12,636 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,541 total · 34 in this make and model · 7 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 15 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 109 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LAS, 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 N6452P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.