The private pilot was flying a Cessna 177D from Zephyrhills, Florida, to Newport News, Virginia, with a planned fuel stop at Curtis L. Brown Jr. Field Airport (KEYF) in North Carolina.
As he neared the fuel stop airport, the fuel gauges indicated 3/4 capacity remaining, so he decided to continue to his destination.
When the flight was 38 miles from the destination airport, the engine began to sputter. The pilot switched fuel tanks and turned the airplane towards a diversion airport, Franklin Regional Airport (KFKN) in Franklin, Virginia.
The pilot checked the weather and NOTAMs for the airport and didn’t find any issues. However, when he attempted to turn on the runway lights by keying the microphone five times and then seven times, the lights did not turn on.
He landed on the runway but touched down too fast and bounced. Realizing he would be unable to stop the airplane on the remaining portion of the runway, he added full power and began to climb. Thinking the airplane was higher than it actually was, he banked left and the airplane’s left wing collided with trees.
The airport manager later discovered that the pilot-controlled lighting system at the airport was inoperative and had been last checked 25 days before the accident. He issued a NOTAM that the system was down.
The pilot told investigators that if he had known the runway lights were inoperative, he would have diverted to a different airport.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from trees during the initial climb following an aborted precautionary landing. Contributing to the outcome were the inoperative runway lights, which reduced the likelihood that the pilot could successfully land the airplane on the runway at night.
NTSB Identification: ERA23LA094
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This December 2022 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.
So, fly an aircraft for 4.2 hours with 4.2 hours of fuel….and, the engine will stop running.
No ‘rocket science’ here….just more stupid tricks.
The Cessna POH has very clear tables of engine power vs airspeed and fuel use at a number of altitudes.
I’ve found them to be accurate over the last 25 years and 4 different Cessnas.
No such thing as a 177D
It was a typo in the 6120 form. It’s a C177B model.
Most Cessnas have both a taxi light and a landing light.
The newer LED lights are very bright and could have made the landing fairly easy.
The older GE 4509 incandescent lights were poor and didn’t provide mush light, and they burned out at about 10 hours. !!
The 177 d Cardinal should have a landing light in the wing and if you are gonna fly at night you should practice using just that light to land
My 2 cents
That’s a good last joke for 2024.
The pilot should have back up plan if the runway lights did not work.
Why/how would you do a go-around when the engine had already sputtered due to fuel exhaustion?