Cessna 172N N4731D

Summary

On 14 August 2002 at about 04:33 local time, a Cessna 172N registered N4731D was involved in an accident near Shell Lake, Wisconsin, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 August 2002 at 04:33

Classification

Accident

Location

Shell Lake, Wisconsin, United States

Coordinates

45.7383, -91.8556

Aircraft

Cessna 172N

Registration

N4731D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St Cloud → Phillips

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CHI02FA247

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane prior to departure leading to fuel exhaustion during the flight, the inadequate preflight/inflight planning, and the unsuitable terrain encountered by the pilot during the forced landing attempt. Contributing factors were the pilot being fatigued, the night lighting condition, and the corn crop.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Cessna 172 impacted into a cornfield on a night flight in visual meteorological conditions. The accident occurred at 2333 local time. That day, the pilot had flown the accident airplane on a 154 nautical mile leg. He had flown another airplane, a Beech 76, on two 56 nautical mile legs. In addition he had taken a flight examination in the Beech 76, consisting of 2.8 hours of ground testing and 1.5 hours of flight testing. These flights occurred prior to the pilot re-boarding the accident airplane for the 154 nautical mile return flight to the original departure airport. The accident occurred 93 nautical miles into the return flight. Examination of the airplane revealed no preexisting anomalies. The right wing fuel tank was breached but an un-compromised area below the height of the breach contained no fuel. The left wing came to rest inverted with the fuel filler cap was in place and no evidence of a fuel leaking from the cap. About 1 gallon of fuel was drained from the left fuel tank. The airplane rental logbook, the recording tachometer and recording hour-meter times indicate that the airplane had accumulated 4.8 engine hours and 5.5 hour-meter hours since being fueled four days prior to the accident. No records of subsequent fueling were found. The airplane flight manual lists a sea level fuel endurance, with 45 minutes reserve, of 3.9 hours at 75 percent power, 4.6 hours at 65 percent power, 5.5 hours at 55 percent power, and 6.4 hours at 45 percent power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.