14 Dec 2013: CESSNA 150F F

14 Dec 2013: CESSNA 150F F — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Henderson, NV, United States

Probable cause

The flight crew's improper in-flight fuel planning lead to fuel exhaustion, which resulted in a complete loss of engine power.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot, who was acting as the pilot-in-command, stated that shortly after he descended the airplane and leveled off at 6,000 feet mean sea level (msl) the engine sputtered and lost power. Attempts to restart the engine was unsuccessful. The pilot subsequently executed a forced landing into a cement mixing yard, shearing off the landing gear in the process and substantially damaging the fuselage and wings. The certified flight instructor (CFI), who was acting as copilot, stated that sunset occurred about 1 hour into the flight. The local sunset time was approximately 1627. The accident occurred at 2038, which established the total time airborne about 5 hours. Both pilots stated that the airplane was fully fueled before departing, and airport fueling records show that 19.6 gallons of fuel was purchased by the CFI. The Cessna 150 Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) states that an airplane equipped with standard fuel tanks has 22.5 gallons of usable fuel, and has about 5 hours of endurance at cruise power. First responders reported that there was no fuel observed in the airplane's fuel tanks and no odor of fuel was observed at the accident site. A postaccident examination of the airplane concluded that no engine mechanical malfunction or failure was identified that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

  • Flight crew
  • Fluid level
  • Fluid management

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.