Cessna 172E N5784T

Summary

On 24 July 1999 at about 16:00 local time, a Cessna 172E registered N5784T, operated by Andy Testman, was involved in an accident near Emeryville, California, 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.

Date

24 July 1999 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Emeryville, California, United States

Coordinates

37.8292, -122.2895

Aircraft

Cessna 172E

Registration

N5784T

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Andy Testman

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Redlands → Hayward

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX99LA256

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning and inadequate fuel consumption calculations, resulting in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Factors were the pilot's failure to have all appropriate flight manuals aboard the airplane and the low cloud ceilings.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot made a forced landing on an interstate highway following a loss of engine power. His destination was overcast with thick clouds so he flew inland and descended to a low altitude to get under them. He turned back toward his destination airport. The airplane was level at 1,500 feet under the overcast about 10 miles north of his destination when the engine power went to zero. The engine restarted and stopped two more times. He setup to land on the highway. He thought he might hit a car, so he pulled the nose up into a full stall. The airplane hit hard; the right wing hit a road sign and spun the airplane into a fence. The pilot had planned about 3 hours en route; actual flight time was 3 hours 40 minutes. Recovery personnel drained no fuel from the right tank and 2 drops of fuel from the left tank. They drained less than 3 ounces from the fuel sump. During a follow-up inspection, investigators supplied the engine with fuel. The engine started and they completed normal run-up checks of the magnetos and propeller. They ran the engine to full power without discovering any discrepancies. The airplane had been modified so that the original 145 horsepower Continental engine had been replaced with a 180 horsepower Textron Lycoming engine with a constant speed propeller. The FAA accident coordinator looked onboard the airplane, but did not find any supplements or changes to the airplane flight manual regarding this engine modification.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.