Cessna T210L N210BH

Summary

On 29 December 2010 at about 18:05 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N210BH was involved in an accident near Abilene, 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

29 December 2010 at 18:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Abilene, Texas, United States

Coordinates

32.4111, -99.6819

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N210BH

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tucson Intnl → Eastland

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN11CA132

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power 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 departed on a 615-nautical mile cross-country flight that reportedly would take him about four hours and fifteen minutes to complete. He reported that he had about five and one-half hours of fuel on-board, and that he received a weather briefing before departing. The briefing indicated that he would encounter marginal visual flight conditions en route to his destination. During the flight, stronger than expected wind conditions were adding about 10 minutes to his flight, and about 50 miles from his destination, he started his descent from 9,500 feet with a solid cloud layer below him. He contacted the air traffic controller and received an instrument rules flight plan for an approach to his destination. He said that as he broke out from the clouds, it was too late to make a landing at the airport, and the engine lost power. He switched fuel tanks and the engine re-started. He said that the controller asked him if he had enough fuel to a make an alternate airport, located about 44 miles away, to which he responded that the right fuel tank showed one-third full. About 3 miles from the alternate airport the engine lost power again, this time the pilot could not get it restarted. He then elected to conduct a forced landing on a road. During the forced landing the airplane’s horizontal stabilizer impacted a signpost, causing substantial damage to the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.