Cessna 177RG N1556H

Summary

On 22 March 2000 at about 23:20 local time, a Cessna 177RG registered N1556H was involved in an accident near Columbia, South Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 March 2000 at 23:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Columbia, South Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Columbia Owens Downtown (CUB)

Coordinates

33.9906, -81.0001

Aircraft

Cessna 177RG

Registration

N1556H

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

MIA00FA117

1 person died.

The PIC's inadequate planning and preparation resulting in refueling not being performed and the subsequent fuel exhaustion and forced landing into trees. A factor in the accident was the erratic operation of the right fuel tank quantity indicating system.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the PIC, substantiated by the widow of the passenger/pilot, the airplane fuel tanks were topped off at Orangeburg Municipal Airport, Orangeburg, South Carolina, on March 19, 2000. The PIC further stated that he flew directly home to Columbia Downtown Airport, parked, and tied down for a total fuel burn time of about 30 minutes. On March 22, 2000, the airplane took off from Columbia Downtown Airport, the PIC having radioed his intention to stay in the traffic pattern, and sustained an engine stoppage as the airplane approached the abeam position for its first landing. The airplane collided with the terrain and revealed no evidence of onboard fuel at the crash site. The engine underwent a factory test cell run, and it was unsatisfactory until factory fuel injector nozzles were substituted, at which time the engine met factory specifications. Subsequent disassembly examination of the fuel system components revealed contamination in the fuel injector servo. The fuel quantity indication system underwent factory testing and revealed the right tank system was operating erratically, which appeared to be a precrash condition.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.