Cessna T210L N5177V

Summary

On 15 January 2005 at about 01:00 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N5177V, operated by Doug Snider, was involved in an accident near Yuba City, California, United States. One person was 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

15 January 2005 at 01:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Yuba City, California, United States

Nearest airport

Sutter County Airport (O52)

Coordinates

39.1208, -121.6031

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N5177V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Doug Snider

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chico → Yuba City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

LAX05LA068

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inadequate preflight preparation and failure to verify the fuel supply, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and subsequent loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a 20-minute flight, the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion, and the pilot forced landed the airplane in a river. Prior to departure, the pilot noted that the left fuel tank gauge indicated less than 1/4 tank and the right fuel tank gauge indicated 1/4 tank of fuel. The pilot did not visually verify the fuel quantity in the tanks and departed using the right tank. The pilot climbed the airplane to 5,500 feet mean seal level and set the manifold pressure and rpm at 25 inches and 2,500 rpm, respectively. He then leaned the mixture to 30 degrees, lean of peak. During cruise flight, the pilot felt a drop in power and noticed a fluctuating fuel flow indication and almost 1/4 tank of fuel indicated on the right gauge. He switched to the left fuel tank, power was restored, and the fuel flow stabilized. While approaching to land at the nearest airport, the pilot extended the gear and set the flaps to the approach setting. Then, the engine began to lose power again and the fuel flow was fluctuating. He applied a full rich mixture, full forward on the throttle and the propeller. He also switched the fuel selector to the right tank and pitched the airplane's attitude for best glide speed. Because the airplane was about 1,500 feet above ground level and nearing the approach end of the runway, the pilot elected to perform a 360-degree turn in order to dissipate the airplane's altitude. As the airplane came through 270 degrees, he noted that the airplane was too low to land on the runway. After assessing his other landing options, the pilot elected to land the airplane in the river. He raised the gear and slowed the airplane to 80 miles per hour. Upon landing, the pilot egressed the airplane and swam to shore. The pilot felt that he should not have departed without refueling the airplane. The airplane had accumulated about 5 1/2 hours since its last refueling. The pilot said that he was planning on obtaining fuel from another airport in his city; however, a family member called requesting a ride from a nearby airport and he decided to refuel there instead. Performance calculations indicated that the usable fuel level would have been nearly depleted based on the flight profiles and times since the last refueling of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.