Cessna 152 N46974

Summary

On 10 August 2008 at about 03:30 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N46974, operated by G & B Flight Academy, was involved in an accident near Oceanside, California, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 August 2008 at 03:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Oceanside, California, United States

Nearest airport

Oceanside Municipal (OKB)

Coordinates

33.2181, -117.3514

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N46974

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

G & B Flight Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesquite → Oceanside

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

LAX08CA264

2 people had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion that was caused by the pilot's inadequate fuel consumption calculations and failure to refuel the airplane en route.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot and pilot-rated passenger rented the airplane for a personal cross-country flight to build flight time. The trip consisted of a 261-nautical mile (nm) leg, a refueling stop, and a 271-nm leg. After completing the first leg, the airplane was refueled with 25 gallons of aviation fuel. During the second leg, as the airplane reached a position about 10 nm from the destination airport, the engine lost power. The pilot restarted the engine, and it ran for a few minutes before losing power again. The pilot was unfamiliar with the area and did not see the destination airport until the airplane was directly over the airport. He realized the airplane was too high and added full flaps and "started to side-slip the airplane to lose our excessive altitude." Initially, the pilot maneuvered the airplane for a landing on runway 06; however, he was still too high, so he executed a 180-degree turn and landed on runway 24. The airplane touched down near the departure end of the runway, overran the pavement, and encountered an embankment. The right wing sustained structural damage. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel examined the airplane and reported that the fuel tanks were intact, the left wing fuel tank was dry, and the right wing fuel tank contained about 0.5 gallons of fuel. The fuel capacity of the airplane was 26 gallons, with 24.5 gallons of usable fuel.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.