Cessna P210N N6416W

Summary

On 11 November 2004 at about 03:42 local time, a Cessna P210N registered N6416W was involved in an accident near Rancho Cordova, California, 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

11 November 2004 at 03:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Rancho Cordova, California, United States

Nearest airport

Sacramento Mather (MHR)

Coordinates

38.5761, -121.2597

Aircraft

Cessna P210N

Registration

N6416W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Roswell → Sacramento

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

LAX05CA030

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane prior to fuel exhaustion, which resulted in a loss of engine power. Contributing factors were the pilot's improper in-flight decision to continue the flight at night after experiencing the total failure of the airplane's alternators, which resulted in inaccurate supplemental fuel quantity indications, and, the pilot's reliance upon the inaccurate data for fuel remaining information.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Following a loss of engine power, the pilot made a forced landing on a street about 1.2 miles from the airport, and collided with trees and the center median. A responding law enforcement officer, who was also a pilot, examined the fuel tanks on scene. Virtually no usable fuel was found. The main fuel tanks were "bone dry," and only 1.75 gallons were found in the left tip tank. The pilot planed the nearly 6-hour-long flight as a nonstop between south eastern New Mexico and northern California. About 4 hours into the flight, with 2 hours left to go, the airplane experienced electrical malfunctions, which resulted in losing all generated alternator power. The airplane's master electrical switch was turned off to conserve residual battery power. The pilot decided to complete the nighttime flight to his original destination without operative navigation lights or any of the electrically driven instruments even though he passed over numerous airports during this time. Occasionally during the latter portion of the flight, the master switch was turned on in order to provide navigation guidance information to the pilot and to ascertain the quantity of fuel remaining as indicated by the electrically driven supplemental fuel flow/quantity computer. The airplane's owner, who was a passenger, advised the pilot of his concern regarding the validity of the fuel computer's indication since electric power to it had been interrupted. The pilot relied upon the fuel quantity computer in lieu of the standard fuel quantity indicators to ascertain the amount of available fuel in the tanks.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.