Cessna 182 N3910D

Summary

On 20 March 1982 at about 00:00 local time, a Cessna 182 registered N3910D, operated by Larry Bechtold, was involved in an accident near Folsom, California, United States. 5 people were on board and 3 were seriously injured, 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

20 March 1982 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Folsom, California, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

N3910D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Larry Bechtold

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Apple Valley → Concord

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX82FVG17

3 people were seriously injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE PILOT VISUALLY CHECKED THE FUEL BEFORE TAKEOFF AND WAS AWARE THAT THE TANKS WERE NOT FULL. HE REPORTED THAT HE WOULD ONLY USE 80/87 OCTANE FUEL BECAUSE THE ENGINE WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH VALVES THAT WOULD ACCEPT 100 OCTANE FUEL. DURING THE FLIGHT, HE ENCOUNTERED CLOUDS AND DIVERTED FROM HIS ORIGINAL ROUTE. THE LEFT FUEL TANK WENT DRY ABOUT 20 MILES SOUTH OF PHOENIX FIELD, FAIR OAKS, CA. HE SWITCHED TO THE RIGHT TANK AND PROCEEDED TOWARD PHOENIX FIELD. THE PILOT SAID THAT HE CHECKED THE RIGHT FUEL TANK GAUGE AFTER SWITCHING TANKS AND IT SHOWED A LITTLE LESS THAN HALF FULL. HOWEVER, WHILE THE PILOT WAS DIVERTING, THE ENGINE LOST POWER AND WOULD NOT RESTART. THE AIRCRAFT WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED DURING A LANDING ON ROUGH, HILLY TERRAIN IN AN AREA OF TREES AND BRUSH. THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS APPROXIMATELY 4500 FT MSL.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.