Cessna 177B N11487

Summary

On 15 March 2002 at about 03:23 local time, a Cessna 177B registered N11487 was involved in an accident near Santa Clarita, California, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 March 2002 at 03:23

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Clarita, California, United States

Coordinates

34.2506, -118.4108

Aircraft

Cessna 177B

Registration

N11487

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

California City → Los Angeles

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

LAX02LA107

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot performed inadequate planning and inaccurate fuel computations, and intiated flight without refueling. This resulted in a forced landing on a road at night due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot made an off airport landing on a highway at night following a total loss of engine power. He had flown the airplane the day before for about 2 hours, and had visually verified full fuel before that flight. He estimated that he had over 2 hours of fuel remaining in the tanks. He experienced no difficulties with the airplane or engine during the first leg of his flight, which lasted about 30 minutes. During the return flight, he had the fuel selector valve on the "BOTH" position. He began his descent from cruise altitude of 6,000 feet. The engine began to sputter and lose power, but continued to run for about 4 minutes. He tried operating of the left and right tanks individually, but the engine remained at reduced power. He alternated the magnetos between the left, right, and both positions. The engine did not respond and eventually quit. He declared an emergency on frequency 121.5; he circled and looked for a landing spot, but it was too dark. He thought Interstate 5 was too busy, so he elected to land on a side road. His wing collided with a light pole and the airplane veered into a fence. Both wings separated from the airplane and the fuselage ripped open. A deputy, who arrived on scene within 5 minutes of the accident, did not smell fuel, observe any puddles of fuel on the ground, or see any fuel stains on the pole. The left wing tank ruptured, but the right wing tank did not. The deputy did not observe any fuel in the right tank.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.