Cessna TR182 N756CE

Summary

On 17 October 2001 at about 03:15 local time, a Cessna TR182 registered N756CE, operated by Holzer, George L., was involved in an accident near Dixie, Idaho, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 October 2001 at 03:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Dixie, Idaho, United States

Coordinates

43.3497, -115.4461

Aircraft

Cessna TR182

Registration

N756CE

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Holzer, George L.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fort Collins → Boise

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

SEA02FA007

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to refuel en route resulting in fuel exhaustion, and his inadvertent entry into a stall condition during the emergency descent. Contributing factors were dark night conditions and mountainous/hilly terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed Boise, Idaho, in the Lycoming O-540-L3C5D powered Cessna TR182 arriving at Ft. Collins 3.0 hours of tach time later on the day before the accident. The aircraft departed Boise with full (88 gallons useable) fuel tanks and remained overnight at Ft. Collins where there was no overnight security available. The aircraft was fueled with 30 gallons of fuel at Ft. Collins the next day with 20 gallons in the right tank (to full according to the fueler) and 10 gallons in the left tank (to 3/4 full according to the fueler). A credit card receipt for this fueling was date/time stamped for 1712. A radar track showed the aircraft flying westbound crossing 7 nm south of Pocatello and 21 nm north of Gooding, Idaho, where public airports with lighted runways and fuel were located. At 2112, in dark night conditions, the pilot radioed Salt Lake Air Route Traffic Control that he had an engine out and about one minute later referenced a 'field on fire' as a potential landing site. The aircraft impacted terrain in the bottom of a shallow (+12 degree sloped) bowl in mountainous/hilly terrain throughout which a controlled burn was underway. The left wing outboard leading edge impacted first, followed by the engine and there was no post-crash aircraft related fire. The landing gear were down and the flaps were retracted. The tach at the accident site read a total of 6.6 hours from the Boise departure reading. Less than a pint of fuel was extracted from the aircraft's fuel system and there was no evidence of fuel leakage/staining on the aircraft. The pilot operating handbook performance data section showed the highest cruise fuel burn rate for the aircraft's engine was about 15.2 gallons/hour. Documentation found within the aircraft tracking tach times, fuel, location(s) and date from 1996 forward referenced fuel burn rates ranging as high as 19.0 gallons/hour.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.