Accident Details
Probable Cause and Findings
the pilot's failure to perform fuel consumption calculations for the flight, resulting in a total power failure due to fuel exhaustion, and subsequent forced landing in soft terrain. Contributing factors in this accident were inadequate pre-flight planning and preparation.
Aircraft Information
Registered Owner (Historical)
Analysis
On November 26, 1998, about 1615 central standard time, a Cessna 150F, N3060X, registered to a private individual, nosed over during a forced landing, near New Brockton, Alabama. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot reported minor injuries, and one passenger reported no injuries. The flight originated at 1530, from Enterprise, Alabama.
The pilot said that when he arrived at the airplane, he checked the fuel, and found "around 12 or 13 gallons" of fuel in the tanks. He took off and flew for "around 30 minutes." He returned to the airport, landed and checked his fuel before taking off again. This time when he checked fuel he said there was "around 8 to 9 gallons" of fuel in the tanks. He took off again with a different passenger, and flew for "around 15 minutes." Again he returned to the airport, landed, and checked his fuel. This time he said, "...the fuel tanks had a little more than quarter of tank of fuel (between 5 to 6 gallons." He took off again with a third passenger, and was heading west, when he said "the engine quit running." He said, "...I tried to restart the engine and failed. I then scanned the area for a safe place to land...I found a field that was about 2 miles from were the engine quit. By the time I got to the field I was at tree top level...the field was just plowed, when the wheels touched down the nose gear stuck in the dirt and caused the airplane to flip over."
According to the FAA, the pilot received the airplane with the tank 1/2 full of fuel, and could not purchase fuel, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. He flew some passengers around the local area for an unknown number of hours, and on the third flight, the airplane's engine failed. He completed a forced landing in a field and the airplane nosed over. Examination of the wreckage revealed no fuel in either of the airplane's fuel tanks or on the ground. The fuel tanks and fuel lines were not breached. The FAA report stated that the pilot, "...miscalculated his fuel causing the engine to stop and necessitating an emergency landing in a field."
Data Source
Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# MIA99LA037