Cessna 152 N68440

Summary

On 9 September 2005 at about 16:00 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N68440 was involved in an accident near Galveston, Texas, United States. One person was 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

9 September 2005 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Galveston, Texas, United States

Coordinates

29.6183, -94.9867

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N68440

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

La Porte → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW05CA234

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper in-flight planning and decisions, which resulted in fuel exhaustion. A contributing 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

During the preflight inspection, the 305-hour private pilot visually inspected both fuel tanks and estimated that he would have enough fuel for two hours of flight with an additional twenty-minute fuel reserve. The pilot then departed and climbed to 5,500 feet to perform as an air traffic relay station in support of helicopters operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Upon completion of his mission, while the airplane was descending back to the originating airport, the engine lost power. The pilot elected to land in a marshy field and during the landing roll the airplane nosed over, coming to rest in an inverted position. No fuel was present when the airplane's wings were removed for recovery. The tachometer reading recorded by the pilot before takeoff was 770.9 hours and was noted as 773.2 hours at the accident site. The total elapsed time was two hours and twenty minutes.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.