- Date
- October 8, 1991, 12:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Snohomish, WA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N6396FCessna 337A-RG
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911008045469A
- Case key
- 41597
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 system starvation, due to the pilot's improper fuel tank selection. Factors include procedures not being followed, and inattentiveness.
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
Neither the instructor pilot nor the student in the Cessna 337 realized that they had not reconfigured the fuel system after the last simulated engine-out approach. They therefore were feeding both engines from one tank. While practicing takeoffs and landings. Just after the final takeoff they exhausted the fuel in the selected tank and, although the selector was then repositioned, were unable to regain power in time to avoid the forced landing. The aircraft came to rest in a field of corn adjacent to the airport.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6396F
- Reported as
- Cessna 337A-RG
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 337-0396
- Engine
- Continental IO-360-D, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Dawson, Richard D.
- Airport
- 543 · Harvey Airfield, runway 14, 2,600 × 30 ft
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
- 61
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 9,500 total · 16 in this make and model · 9,420 as pilot in command · 265 in the last 90 days · 67 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 75 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.