Cessna 152 N5399B

Summary

On 30 September 1999 at about 16:30 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N5399B was involved in an accident near Slaton, Texas, United States. One person was 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

30 September 1999 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Slaton, Texas, United States

Coordinates

33.4302, -101.6401

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N5399B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Decatur → Lubbock

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW99LA273

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane resulting in fuel exhaustion. Factors were the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane's nose landing gear struck a dike and the airplane flipped to the inverted position during a forced landing following a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. The solo student pilot/owner did not refuel the airplane before departing on the second leg of the round trip cross country flight. No physical evidence of fuel or compromise of the integrity of the fuel system was observed at the accident site. Total fuel capacity for the airplane is 39 gallons (37.5 usable fuel) and about 2 gallons of fuel was drained from the tanks. The student pilot based his calculated fuel consumption on cruise performance at 4.7 gallons per hour for a pressure altitude of 8,000 feet; however, the Cessna 152 performance chart indicates a fuel burn of 4.9 gallons per hour. Further, the pilot did not calculate the climb performance to cruise altitude. When asked how the accident could have been prevented, the pilot stated, 'I could have topped off the tanks before the return trip.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.