Cessna 182 N3051Y

Summary

On 12 June 2019 at about 15:02 local time, a Cessna 182 registered N3051Y was involved in an accident near Maitland, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 June 2019 at 15:02

Classification

Accident

Location

Maitland, Florida, United States

Coordinates

28.6203, -81.3492

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

N3051Y

Category

Airplane

Year built

1962

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Orlando → New Smyrna Beach

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA19FA193

2 people died.

The pilot's inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot departed on a visual flight rules cross-country flight; according to his filed flight plan, the airplane had 4 hours of fuel onboard. After flying about 3.1 hours, the pilot landed at an intermediate airport before continuing to his destination, which was about 34 miles away. He did not purchase fuel at the intermediate stop. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot declared an emergency with air traffic control and stated that the airplane was not getting fuel out of the right main fuel tank. The pilot was cleared to land at the nearest airport (the intermediate airport) and radio contact with the airplane was lost shortly thereafter. A witness in a boat on a lake saw and heard the airplane overhead. He stated that the engine was sputtering like it was running out of gas. He further stated that the airplane flew past the lake, made a 180° turn and flew back toward the lake; it appeared to impact trees on the lakeshore, then impacted the water. The airplane was recovered from the lake; the intact, unbreached main fuel tanks each contained about 2 gallons of fuel, and the single auxiliary tank also contained about 2 gallons of fuel. According to the owner's manual, the unusable fuel in each main fuel tank was 2.5 gallons and 0.5 gallons in the auxiliary tank. The fuel selector was found in the right main tank position. A test run of the engine using the fuel from onboard the airplane revealed no anomalies. Onboard engine monitor data from the accident flight showed that the cylinder head and exhaust gas temperatures decreased 2 minutes before the data ended. The data also showed the fuel flow rate spiked during the same time, likely due to air introduced into the fuel lines as the engine was starved of fuel.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.