Cessna 177B N35243

Summary

On 5 September 2022 at about 19:55 local time, a Cessna 177B registered N35243 was involved in an accident near Ivanhoe, North Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 September 2022 at 19:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Ivanhoe, North Carolina, United States

Coordinates

34.5845, -78.2419

Aircraft

Cessna 177B

Registration

N35243

Category

Airplane

Year built

1975

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kill Devil Hills → Elizabethtown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22LA406

2 people were seriously injured.

The pilot's inadequate preflight and inflight planning, 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 was returning from a cross-country flight and planned to stop for fuel along the way; however, due to deteriorating weather conditions along his route of flight, he was unable to stop. The pilot then became distracted trying to avoid weather when the airplane’s engine lost power. The pilot further described that, “We should have landed at the nearest clear airport but got fixated on dodging rain clouds causing time consuming maneuvers to go around the storms into headwinds and unaware of fuel reserves.” He subsequently performed a forced landing to a field and struck a ditch resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane’s intact fuel tanks revealed they were empty of useable fuel. Given this information, it is likely that during the unplanned deviations around weather, the airplane’s usable fuel supply was exhausted, which resulted in the total loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.