Accident Overview
On February 4, 2021, about 1240 Pacific standard time, a Cessna 150F airplane, N8107S, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing on a road near Flabob Airport (RIR), Riverside, California. The commercial pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 banner-tow flight.
Flight Sequence
The pilot fueled the airplane at Redlands Municipal Airport (REI), Redlands, California, with 15 gallons of 100 low-lead fuel and conducted a 24-minute flight to RIR. She reported that the airplane had a total of 42 gallons of fuel and planned a 2-hour 20-minute banner-tow flight.
After completing the banner-tow operation, she made an approach to runway 6 at RIR and released the banner about midfield. Applying full power to join the pattern, she elected to go around due to extreme wind shear. During the go-around, she applied full power, turned off carburetor heat, retracted flaps to 0°, and initiated a climb. While in a climbing left turn to the crosswind leg, the engine sputtered and lost partial power. She completed the engine failure checklist but the engine continued to sputter. She turned back to runway 6/24 and initiated an approach to land on runway 24.
Facing a strong and gusty tailwind and excessive speed, she aborted the landing on runway 24 and climbed with about 40% engine power, intending to turn right and land on runway 6. About halfway through the right turn, the engine lost total power and the propeller stopped spinning. Two aerial restart attempts failed.
At about 300 ft above ground level, the pilot spotted a road with no vehicle traffic and attempted a normal landing. During descent, the elevator became ineffective due to a tree strike. The airplane touched down upright on the asphalt; the nose landing gear collapsed immediately. The right wing impacted two parked cars, and the airplane skidded about 500 ft to a stop. Substantial damage occurred to the right wing, right elevator, nose landing gear, and nose.
Postaccident Examination
A postaccident engine examination revealed no anomalies. An engine test run at various speeds, with the engine rotated to a bank angle of 21° to simulate fuel porting disruption, resulted in total power loss. Examination of the fuel system showed that the left wing tank (capacity 19 gallons, 17.5 usable) contained no fuel, and the right wing tank (same capacity) contained less than 1/3 gallon. The auxiliary fuel tank (capacity 15.5 gallons, 14.6 usable) contained about 4 gallons. Fuel lines and the fuel selector were intact and operational. The gascolator had impact damage but no evidence of fuel loss on the ground. The fuel boost pump was operational.
The pilot's fuel planning indicated a burn rate of 10 gallons per hour, with 19 gallons per wing tank and 14 in the auxiliary tank (total 52 gallons). She assumed 28 gallons used and 24 remaining. In a postaccident interview, she reported not using auxiliary fuel and believed 10–12 gallons remained in the wing tanks. The airplane owner stated that during banner-tow operations, fuel consumption ranged from 11–13 gallons per hour.
Weather study indicated gusting winds to 21 knots near the accident site, with low-level windshear, moderate up- and downdrafts, and a pilot report of severe turbulence at 4,000 ft. The accident pilot did not request or receive weather information from Leidos Flight Service or ForeFlight.