What happened
On June 9, 2007, at approximately 1:40 PM, a Reims Aviation F 152, registration F-GHVZ, was conducting a local instructional flight near Toussus-le-Noble. About thirty minutes after departing from Touss/ss-le-Noble, while cruising at an altitude of roughly 2,000 feet, the instructor noticed a drop in engine RPM, followed by a complete engine failure.
Upon noticing the power loss, the instructor checked the fuel gauges, which indicated that the left tank was at one-third capacity and the right tank was slightly above half. Despite attempts to restart the engine, the failure persisted. The crew performed an emergency landing in a rapeseed field near Gazeran. The dense crops caused the aircraft to decelerate abruptly, resulting in the plane flipping onto its back. The aircraft sustained heavy damage during the impact.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the fuel state of the aircraft prior to the flight. It was determined that the aircraft had flown for four hours since its last full refueling. With an average fuel consumption rate of 20 liters per hour and a total tank capacity of 98 liters (including 6 liters of unconsumable fuel), the aircraft began the flight with fewer than 15 liters of usable fuel remaining.
While the instructor typically handles the daily pre-flight procedures and refueling, another individual had moved the aircraft from the hangar on the day of the accident. The instructor did not consult the aircraft logbook to verify the time elapsed since the last refueling, nor did they perform a visual check of the fuel levels in the tanks. Instead, the instructor relied solely on the readings from the cockpit gauges.
Findings
- The primary cause of the engine failure was fuel exhaustion.
- The crew failed to cross-reference available information to accurately determine the remaining fuel quantity.
- The crew did not account for the fact that the fuel gauges were malfunctioning, as the cockpit indicators provided inaccurate readings of the actual fuel levels.