Cessna 177RG N98SW

Summary

On 5 April 2020 at about 02:00 local time, a Cessna 177RG registered N98SW was involved in an accident near Santa Paula, California, 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

5 April 2020 at 02:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Paula, California, United States

Nearest airport

Santa Paula (SZP)

Coordinates

34.3467, -119.0608

Aircraft

Cessna 177RG

Registration

N98SW

Category

Airplane

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Paula → Santa Paula

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR20LA117

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to ensure adequate fuel onboard for the planned flight, which resulted in a total 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 planned to fly in the airport traffic pattern for about 30 minutes to maintain currency in his airplane, which he had not flown or refueled in several months. He used the fuel gauges to determine his fuel quantity, which he estimated to be about 10 gallons. The pilot did not look inside the fuel tanks to verify the fuel quantity; however, he did sump the tanks, which took three attempts before he observed water-free fuel samples. He did not observe any anomalies during the engine runup, after takeoff, or during the first three rounds in the airport traffic pattern. During the initial climb following his fourth touch-and-go maneuver, the pilot experienced a total loss of engine power at 100 ft above ground level. The pilot was unable to restore engine power during the descent, and the airplane impacted a dry riverbed and came to rest upright. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the stabilator. The fuel tanks were not breached, there were no obstructions in the fuel strainer, and no evidence of water contamination in the fuel system. About 2 gallons of fuel was recovered from the right wing tank, and the left wing tank was empty. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed no evidence of a preexisting malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation, and a test run of the engine revealed no anomalies. The pilot did not check the fuel tanks before the flight to validate the fuel quantity indicated by the fuel gauges. As one fuel tank was devoid of fuel and the other fuel tank was nearly empty, he likely departed with an insufficient fuel level for the short flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.