The private pilot stated that shortly after he descended the Cessna 150 and leveled off at 6,000 feet mean sea level (msl), the engine sputtered and lost power. Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful.
The pilot subsequently executed a forced landing into a cement mixing yard near Henderson, Nevada, shearing off the landing gear and substantially damaging the fuselage and wings.
The CFI, who was acting as copilot, stated that sunset occurred about one hour into the flight. Local sunset time was approximately 4:27. The accident occurred at 8:38, which established the total time airborne about five hours.
Both pilots stated that the airplane was fully fueled before departing, and airport fueling records show that 19.6 gallons of fuel was purchased by the CFI.
The Cessna 150 Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) states that an airplane equipped with standard fuel tanks has 22.5 gallons of usable fuel, and has about five hours of endurance at cruise power.
First responders reported that there was no fuel observed in the airplane’s fuel tanks and no odor of fuel was observed at the accident site.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as improper in-flight fuel planning, which lead to fuel exhaustion, which resulted in a complete loss of engine power.
NTSB Identification: WPR14CA069
This December 2013 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
That’s the kind of wreck where at the crash site they find blood, guts and feathers, but no BRAINS.
There was no CFI aboard (see Docket), contrary to the incorrect report in this General Aviation News accident summary and in the NTSB Factual report. Both individuals were relatively new private pilots. The right seater reported 203 hours logged, the left seater reported under 200 hours. In his report of the accident, the right seater says he slept for most of the flight from Casa Grande to North Las Vegas.. The right seater reported he thought the aircraft held 26 gallons. The pilot flying (left seater) wrote in his accident report that he thought the aircraft held 40 gallons. The two individuals started the day with a flight from North Las Vegas Casa Grande that the right seater said took 2 hr 45 min. It appears there was a tail wind (westerly winds predominate) for the flight from North Las Vegas. There is no mention in the Docket of whether either individual got a weather briefing. There was no flight plan, but they did use VFR FF. It’s pretty obvious that they did not know the C150’s performance (fuel capacity, fuel burn), nor did they know the current enroute weather.
And for what purpose are fuel gauges installed in an airplane but to inform pilots of the fuel remaining. Could it be that most likely the fuel gauge needle was bouncing off the “E” when the engine sputtered to a stop and if so that should have come as no surprise. And I wonder how many airports were passed up when the gauge needle descended below the 1/4 full indication? Could it be that these pilots’ heads were where they were because they enjoyed the view?
“and another one bites the dust…”
Five hours of flight time in a C150 has improbable likelihood of a successful outcome… and where was the required reserve??? 22.5 gallons divided by 5 = something pretty close to 4.1 gph which is pretty close to the predicted burn according to the C150 POH if the engine is properly leaned and at running at cruise power settings.
Bye bye CFI.