Aviation Crash Map

Cessna 172L N2880Q

30 September 1998 · Puyallup, Washington, United States · No injuries

Summary

On 30 September 1998 at about 05:20 local time, a Cessna 172L registered N2880Q, operated by Spanaflight, was involved in an accident near Puyallup, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

The record

Date
at 05:20
Classification
Accident
Location
Puyallup, Washington, United States
Nearest airport
Pierce County-Thun Field (1S0)
Coordinates
47.1392, -122.3191
Aircraft
Cessna 172L
Registration
N2880Q
Category
Airplane
Engines
1
Operator
Spanaflight
Operating rule
Part 91: General Aviation
Purpose of flight
Personal
Phase of flight
Not recorded
Route
Seattle → Puyallup
Aircraft damage
Substantial
Weather
VMC
Light
Night/Dark
NTSB number
SEA98LA191

People

Nobody was injured.

On board Died Serious Minor Uninjured
2 0 0 0 2

Probable cause

The pilot-in-command's failure to refuel en-route resulting in fuel exhaustion. Contributing factors were a vehicle (in the landing path) and dark night conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot-in-command topped off the 42 gallon (38 gallons usable fuel) Cessna 172L but did not visually check the fuel. He then departed on a series of flights covering more than 354 nautical miles and 5.33 hours of flight time, including four intermediate stops where no fuel was added to the aircraft. Upon return to his point of origination he elected to execute a touch-and-go landing during which the aircraft's engine stopped operating on the climb-out. He then executed a forced landing under dark night conditions on a north-south thoroughfare (highway 161) and impacted a vehicle during the forced landing. Post-crash examination resulted in 2 cups of fuel being retrieved from the right wing fuel tank and 3 quarts from the left wing fuel tank. An FAA inspector on site was able to retrieve 4 drops of fuel from the gascolator following the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.

Other Cessna 172 accidents

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
7 May 1998 Cessna 172M
N8994V
Elkhart, Indiana, United States
no coordinates
- No injuries -
30 Aug 1998 Cessna 172F
N7832U
Spring Hill, Florida, United States Barrett A. Bailey No injuries -
1 Sep 1998 Cessna 172G
N5797R
Leesburg, Florida, United States
no coordinates
- Minor injuries -
15 May 1998 Cessna 172M
N9212H
Palmer, Alaska, United States - Fatal 2
18 Jul 1998 Cessna 172G
N5907R
Dover, Delaware, United States - Minor injuries -
14 Nov 1998 Cessna 172C
N1806Y
Falls City, Nebraska, United States - No injuries -

All 12,209 records for this type

Other accidents in this area

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
31 Mar 1998 Cessna P210N
CGBFM
Royal City, Washington, United States - Fatal 3
4 Jun 1998 Cessna 172N
N6234D
Prindle, Washington, United States - Fatal 3
9 Apr 1998 Cessna 150L
N39AA
Seattle, Washington, United States - Minor injuries -
30 Jul 1998 Embraer EMB-135
PTZJA
Moses Lake, Washington, United States - No injuries -
19 Jul 1998 Cessna 172P
N53630
Seattle, Washington, United States Wings Aloft Inc. No injuries -
24 Jul 1998 Pilgrim STEEN SKYBOLT
N21SP
Curtis, Washington, United States - Minor injuries -

All 170,864 records in United States