Cessna 172P N53115

Summary

On 17 February 1996 at about 01:40 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N53115, operated by Royal Aviation, was involved in an accident near Raymond, California, United States. 4 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 February 1996 at 01:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Raymond, California, United States

Coordinates

37.2493, -119.9593

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N53115

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Royal Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Ana → Mariposa

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX96LA117

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to verify the quantity of fuel onboard the aircraft prior to departure, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the aircraft was en route over low rolling foothills when the engine quit. The aircraft firewall and nose gear was damaged during the forced landing on a road. Examination of the aircraft by a A&P mechanic revealed that the fuel system was intact. Only residual fuel was found in the fuel tanks. Following recovery of the aircraft, the engine was started using the airframe systems; it accelerated to power smoothly with normal magneto drops observed. The pilot stated the aircraft is rented full of fuel by the FBO and during the preflight inspection put her fingers in the filler port and felt fuel at a level about 1 inch below the top of the filler neck. The pilot noted that the fuel gages in this aircraft historically read something less than full when the tanks are filled and the gage reading on start of between 3/4 and full seemed normal. Cessna Aircraft reported that the tanks must be filled to the top of the filler neck to obtain a 20 gallon usable fuel level. A fuel level at the bottom of the filler neck equals 18 usable gallons and each inch in fuel level below that is equal to about 2 gallons of fuel. The difference between the takeoff time and the accident is 3 hours 22 minutes according to FAA ATC communication tapes. The Safety Board calculated the expected fuel usage using both the aircraft performance charts in the Cessna POH, and specific fuel flow figures provided by Lycoming for an engine operated at full rich condition. With the stated allowances for engine start, taxi and takeoff, the Safety Board calculated that 28.4 gallons of fuel would be used when the engine was leaned and the aircraft flown according to the manual. In the full rich condition, 33.4 gallons of fuel would be required.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.