N49100

On August 13, 1999, at 1914 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 152, N49100, collided with ground obstructions during a forced landing near Buckeye, Arizona. The forced landing was precipitated by a total loss of engine power during cruise. The aircraft was destroyed; however, neither the pilot nor his pilot-rated passenger was injured. The aircraft was operated by Glendale Aviation under 14 CFR Part 91, and rented by the pilot for a personal cross-country flight. The flight originated in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, at 1645 on the afternoon of the accident. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and a VFR flight plan was filed.

The pilot reported that he was inbound to the Glendale, Arizona, airport at 2,000 feet msl when the engine began to miss. It resumed running a couple of times but finally stopped altogether. The pilot made a forced landing on a dirt road, striking a tree with the left wing, and finally nosing over as the aircraft stopped.

The aircraft was last serviced with 20.8 gallons of 100 octane low lead (LL) fuel on August 12, 1999, by the operator. The pilot told investigators that he had computed the fuel requirement for the flight by using the fuel consumption chart in the pilot operator's handbook (POH). After a flight of 0.2 hours on August 12, 1999, the pilot estimated that he had 3 hours 55 minutes of fuel remaining (without reserve) for his cross-country flight. At the time the engine quit, the Hobbs meter showed that a total of 3 hours 36 minutes had elapsed (1,790.6 out; 1,794.2 in). The average fuel consumption for the fuel load was 6.8 gallons per hour.

The fuel capacity of the aircraft is 26 gallons with 1.5 gallons unusable. When asked about his planning, the pilot acknowledged that his estimate of 6 gallons per hour had not considered the additional fuel requirements for his initial takeoff and climb, nor the seven other landings and takeoffs that he subsequently made since his last refueling. The POH performance charts specify that each start, taxi, and takeoff requires 0.8-gallons.

Aircraft retrieval personnel reported that the fuel system was intact and that they drained less than 2 gallons of fuel from both of the main tanks.

On August 20, 1999, Safety Board investigators successfully started and ran the engine at the operator's facility. All engine parameters were normal.