Cessna 180 N4683B

Summary

On 9 July 2017 at about 13:30 local time, a Cessna 180 registered N4683B was involved in an accident near Baker City, Oregon, 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

9 July 2017 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Baker City, Oregon, United States

Nearest airport

Baker City Municipal (BKE)

Coordinates

44.8356, -117.7983

Aircraft

Cessna 180

Registration

N4683B

Category

Airplane

Year built

1955

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Yellow Pine → Baker City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR17LA147

Nobody was injured.

The loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, which resulted from the pilot's inadequate preflight fuel planning.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot reported that he departed on a cross-country flight with 26.5 gallons of fuel and that he planned to make an intermediate stop to refuel before proceeding to the destination airport. The intermediate fuel stop airport was 97 nautical miles (nm) from the departure airport. About 45 minutes into the flight, when the airplane was about 3,000 ft above ground level and 5 nm east of the intermediate fuel stop airport, the engine lost power. The pilot assumed that the airplane was out of fuel and subsequently realized that the airplane would not be able to reach the intended airport. As a result, the pilot made a forced landing to a hayfield, during which the airplane sustained substantial damage. The pilot was using the fuel totalizer to keep track of the amount of fuel during the flight. The pilot reported that the fuel totalizer indicated 14 gallons at the time of the engine failure. The pilot also reported that, at that time, the fuel selector indicated "BOTH" and the fuel gauges indicated that the left tank was 3/8 full and the right tank was empty. Aircraft recovery personnel reported that, when they drained fuel from each tank, the left tank was almost empty, and the right tank had less than 1.7 gallons remaining. According to the Cessna 180 Owner's Manual, the unusable amount of fuel was 1 gallon. Additionally, no fuel streaking stains were observed on the top of either wing, which would have been consistent with fuel that was vented overboard. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation. Thus, the loss of engine power resulted from fuel exhaustion. Because of his experience in the airplane make and model, the pilot should have known the airplane's fuel burn and should have planned to divert sooner rather than rely on the fuel totalizer and the fuel gauges.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.