Pilot Debrief

CESSNA 177A near Manson, WA — 2010-08-19

Final reportWPR10LA412
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Date
2010-08-19
Location
Manson, WA, USA
Aircraft
CESSNA 177A
Registration
N30559
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Minor
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Descent

Probable cause

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, and the pilot’s failure to ensure that a sufficient quantity of fuel was on board to complete the flight.

NTSB narrative

The pilot was making a round-robin cross-country flight, and his preflight fuel planning indicated that he would need 15.8 gallons of fuel to complete the flight and have the required reserve for visual flight rules. He visually checked the fuel level in the tanks prior to departure on the first leg and estimated that he had over 30 gallons on board. This approximated what he observed on the fuel gauges at the start of the flight; he did not have a calibrated measuring device for his airplane. The pilot completed the outbound leg successfully. Preflight for the return leg consisted of a walk-around visual inspection of the airplane but did not include a visual examination of the fuel levels in the fuel tanks. Approaching the destination on the return leg, the engine began to run rough, lost all power, restarted briefly, and then lost all power again. The pilot made an off-airport forced landing in rough terrain. Postaccident examination found that the fuel tanks were empty. The pilot surmised that a fuel leak developed for undetermined reasons; however, there was no evidence found to indicate that a fuel leak had occurred.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Fuel management
First missed decision gate
Pilot did not check fuel level before departure from Cle Elum.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 2 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents2

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