- Date
- August 26, 2012, 10:54 local (17:54 UTC)
- Place
- Madera, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N6346SCessna 150G
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Loss of engine power (total)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report December 5, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20120826017669A
- Case key
- 84802
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 pilot's mismanagement of the fuel supply, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he was nearing the end of a 349-mile flight. When he was 3.5 miles from the destination airport, at 2,300 feet mean sea level, the engine began to sputter and then quit. The pilot was over a residential neighborhood and realized the airplane was not going to make it to the airport. He turned the airplane right toward a dry river bed; however, the airplane collided with a tree, then impacted terrain, and flipped over. The pilot said it was likely that he had exhausted his fuel supply.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he was at the end of a 349-mile flight. When he was 3.5 miles from the destination airport, at 2,300 feet mean sea level (msl), the engine began to sputter, then quit. The pilot was over a neighborhood and realized he was not going to make it to the airport. He identified a dry river bed off to his right, and turned towards that direction. The airplane collided with the top of a tree, which slowed it down. The pilot then pull back on the yoke, the airplane impacted terrain, and flipped over. The pilot said it was likely that he had exhausted his fuel supply.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6346S
- Reported as
- Cessna 150G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15067146
- Airframe hours
- 3,570
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-200 SERIES, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 28, 2012
- Departed
- KIFP · Bullhead City, AZ
- Destination
- KMAE · Madera, CA
- Airport
- KMAE · Madera Municipal Airport, runway 30
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
- 70
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 29, 2011
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 410 total · 96 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 300° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- KMAE, 2 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 25, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.