Fuel exhaustion Accident Cessna 172L N9832G,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 17527
 
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Date:Sunday 20 April 2008
Time:21:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic C172 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Cessna 172L
Owner/operator:Green Castle Aeor Club Ltd.
Registration: N9832G
MSN: 17259732
Year of manufacture:1971
Total airframe hrs:8815 hours
Engine model:Lycoming O-360
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:about 2.5 miles north of Fairfax, Iowa -   United States of America
Phase: Landing
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Waterloo, IA (ALO)
Destination airport:Oxford, IA (IA24)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The pilot departed on a 3-leg round-robin flight under night visual meteorological (VMC) conditions. He did not refuel the airplane prior to departure. During the second leg of the flight, the pilot picked up two passengers and flew for about 30 minutes and deplaned them at the same airport. Then the pilot continued on the third flight leg. He was en route at 3,000 feet msl when the engine began to run rough and lost about 50 percent of its power. The pilot reported that the engine quit and he executed a forced landing to a field. The airplane nosed over in the soft soil. The Hobbs meter indicated that the accident flight was 2.9 hours in length. The pilot who flew the accident airplane previously that day reported that he did not top off the fuel prior to the 1.1-hour flight that he flew. He did not add fuel after the flight, which left about 22.3 gallons of useable fuel on board the airplane. The Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) indicated that the airplane used about 9.7 gallons of fuel during the 1.1 hour flight. According to the POH, the airplane used about 7.9 gallons per hour in cruise flight at 2,500 feet msl. An additional 1-gallon of fuel was consumed in the climb to 2,500 feet msl. The estimated fuel consumed during the accident flight was about 23.9 gallons.
Probable Cause: Fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and inaccurate fuel calculations.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: CHI08LA108
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 8 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
22-Apr-2008 11:59 Fusko Added
25-Apr-2008 11:08 Fusko Updated
21-Dec-2016 19:14 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
21-Dec-2016 19:16 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
21-Dec-2016 19:20 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
03-Dec-2017 10:43 ASN Update Bot Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]

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