Cessna 177 N29377

Summary

On 18 February 2006 at about 01:30 local time, a Cessna 177 registered N29377 was involved in an accident near Carefree, Arizona, 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

18 February 2006 at 01:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Carefree, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Sky Ranch at Carefree (18AZ)

Coordinates

33.8181, -111.8978

Aircraft

Cessna 177

Registration

N29377

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Payson → Phoenix

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

LAX06CA120

Nobody was injured.

fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculations and his failure to refuel the airplane prior to the accident flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane impacted a road sign at night during a forced landing following a loss of engine power in cruise flight. The pilot reported that he ran out of gas and had not refueled the airplane since earlier in the week. Since that refueling the pilot conducted an additional cross-country flight and was flying his second when the accident occurred. He said he had performed some mental calculations prior to departing on the first leg of the accident flight and believed he had enough fuel to conduct both legs of the trip. However, in actuality he did not have enough fuel and the engine lost power about 30 minutes into the second leg of the flight. The pilot diverted to an airport for an emergency landing, but after realizing the airplane would not make it to the airport, he elected to land on a road marked by the tail lights of an automobile. Upon landing, the right wing impacted a road sign and the airplane veered into a ditch and brush. The pilot reported that if he had refueled prior to departing on either leg of the flight, the accident could have been averted.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.