Cessna 182D N8961X

Summary

On 25 July 2006 at about 18:45 local time, a Cessna 182D registered N8961X, operated by John Cardos, was involved in an accident near Santa Clarita, 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

25 July 2006 at 18:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Clarita, California, United States

Coordinates

34.4283, -118.4842

Aircraft

Cessna 182D

Registration

N8961X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

John Cardos

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Cameron Park → Whiteman

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06CA244

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. The fuel exhaustion was the result of a split O-ring on the right fuel cap, which allowed fuel to siphon out of the right fuel tank during flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion and the airplane collided with rocks during a forced landing in a riverbed. The pilot refueled the airplane before departure and flew approximately 2 hours before the engine lost power. He switched from the left fuel tank to the right tank and the engine restarted; however, it lost complete power about 10 minutes later. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the airplane at the accident site and recovered a residual amount of fuel from the right tank and no fuel from the left tank. He noted that the right fuel cap O-ring was split and there was heavy blue staining from the fuel cap, aft in a slip stream induced pattern to the trailing edge of the wing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.