Accident Overview
On July 9, 2017, at approximately 0630 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 180 airplane, registration N4683B, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing following a loss of engine power. The incident occurred near Baker City Municipal Airport (BKE) in Baker City, Oregon. The commercial pilot and the passenger were not injured. The flight was operated under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal cross-country trip. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
Flight History
The flight originated from Johnson Creek Airstrip (3U2) in Yellow Pine, Idaho, at about 0630 mountain daylight time, with a destination of Red Bluff Municipal Airport (RBL) in Red Bluff, California. Baker City Municipal Airport was a planned en route refueling stop.
Fuel Management
According to a report the pilot submitted to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge, two days before the accident, he and his passenger flew from Grants Pass, Oregon, to 3U2. En route, he stopped in McCall, Idaho, where the fuel totalizer indicated 30 gallons. He added 26 gallons, calculated 56 gallons total, and set the totalizer to 50 gallons to account for unusable fuel. He then flew 26 minutes to 3U2. The following morning, he flew to various backcountry airstrips, logging 1.6 hours of tach time; upon landing at 3U2, the totalizer read 26.5 gallons.
On the morning of the accident, the pilot departed 3U2 for the 97-nautical-mile flight to BKE. About 45 minutes into the flight, at an altitude of 3,000 feet above ground level and 5 nautical miles east of BKE, while setting up for a left downwind for runway 17, the engine lost power. The pilot stated he set up for a straight-in approach to runway 26, checked that the fuel selector was on BOTH, and concluded the airplane was out of fuel. Initially believing he could reach the runway, he did not consider an alternate landing site. When it became apparent he would not make the runway, he executed a forced landing in a hay field that contained irrigation ditches. After touchdown, the airplane dropped into a ditch, resulting in substantial damage, and came to rest upright about 200 yards east of runway 26.
Post-accident Examination
At the accident site, a Federal Aviation Administration operations inspector from the Boise Flight Standards District Office reported that the pilot admitted to having run out of fuel. When asked about fuel gauge readings before the engine failure, the pilot stated the right gauge was in the red and the left gauge read 3/8. The inspector noted no fuel streaking stains on top of either fuel tank during the onsite inspection. Recovery personnel drained fuel from both tanks: less than one gallon from the left tank and under five gallons from the right tank. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot also mentioned that Monarch Fuel Caps, installed on the accident airplane, could vent fuel if not correctly installed with the chain and ball, but concluded, "Ultimately, I am responsible for how much fuel is in the tanks."