Cessna 150L N11418

Summary

On 17 September 2004 at about 23:00 local time, a Cessna 150L registered N11418, operated by Kerrville Aviation, was involved in an accident near Mountain Home, Texas, United States. 2 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 September 2004 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Mountain Home, Texas, United States

Coordinates

30.1508, -99.3169

Aircraft

Cessna 150L

Registration

N11418

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Kerrville Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lampasas → Kerrville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW04CA239

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper inflight planning which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. A factor was 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 375-hour private pilot, before leaving Kerrville Municipal Airport, asked the line crew to "top off" the fuel tanks. The line crew indicated they had filled both tanks, but the pilot did not visually check the fuel level before departure. On the return flight from Lampasas Airport, while near Mountain Home, Texas and at approximately 2,800 feet above ground level, the engine briefly ran rough and then lost power. The pilot observed that the fuel gages were "one needles width above empty", and attempted to restart the engine. When the engine failed to start, the pilot elected to land in a freshly planted field. The pilot touched down and the initial landing roll were uneventful, but the nose gear subsequently collapsed and the airplane nosed over coming to rest inverted. The fuel system and engine were examined after the wreckage was recovered to a secure location. The engine was successfully run for 30 minutes. No anomalies were found that could have prevented normal engine operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.