Cessna 150M N66081

Summary

On 11 June 2000 at about 15:35 local time, a Cessna 150M registered N66081 was involved in an accident near Bethalto, Illinois, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 June 2000 at 15:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Bethalto, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

St Louis Regional Airport (ALN)

Coordinates

38.8999, -90.0399

Aircraft

Cessna 150M

Registration

N66081

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Greensburg → St Clair

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI00LA159

Nobody was injured.

the improper in-flight decision of the pilot to fly past the Vandalia airport onto Saint Louis Regional and the fuel exhaustion. A factor was the ditch.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

N66081 was destroyed when it nosed over on impact with a ditch during a forced landing following an in-flight loss of engine power. The pilot was uninjured. The pilot said, 'I preflighted the airplane at 6:45 a.m. and checked fuel prior to take off from I34. The airplanes was fueled the day prior and flown .5 hrs or less.' The pilot stated, 'While enroute to (K39) St.Clair Regional I decided to stop at (VLA) Vandalia, IL for a weather update and restroom break. ... Vandalia had 2 parachutists under canopy and two more jumping in less that 2 minutes. The traffic pattern was full as well so I decided to fly northeast to St. Louis Regional - get fuel and a weather briefing. After getting clearance to land and setting up for pattern entry and starting to level off from descent to traffic pattern altitude the engine quit running. I radioed the tower and squacked 7700 on the x-ponder. After all emergency procedures failed to start the engine I made an off field landing in a soy bean field. The aircraft struck a ditch and flipped over destroying aircraft.' Reported flight time for the accident flight was three and a half hours. A FAA on-scene examination revealed no anomalies. Approximately one half gallon of fluid was found on the ground around each of the fuel tank's cap vent areas. A Cessna 150 performance-specification page stated, 'RANGE: Cruise, ... 22.5 Gallons, No Reserve ... 4.1 hrs.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.