- Date
- October 11, 2020, 14:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Bishop, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N22963Cessna 150
- Defining event
- Approach: Fuel starvation
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- FAA report
- 20201011020219A
- Case key
- 102128
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
A loss of engine power due to the pilot’s inadvertent closure of the mixture control which starved the engine of fuel and resulted in a hard landing and collision with terrain.
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 reported that, while on final approach he was high, so he reduced power, extended 10o of flaps and entered a slip while he applied carburetor heat. Shortly thereafter the engine lost power. The pilot unsuccessfully attempted an engine restart. The pilot then made a turn to an aera that he thought was suitable for landing. The airplane landed hard and subsequently came to rest inverted, substantially damaging the vertical stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported that he mistakenly pulled the mixture control rather than carburetor heat. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N22963
- Reported as
- Cessna 150 (H)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15068646
- Built
- 1968
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Dk Futures LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 2020 · 1.5 hours before
- Departed
- KBIH · Bishop, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- BIH · Bishop, runway 35, 5,600 × 100 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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 7 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Altimeter
- 30.08 inHg
- Observed at
- KBIH, 2.5 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 20, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.5 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.