Cessna 172P N65654

Summary

On 18 June 2011 at about 19:00 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N65654, operated by Davis Brian W, was involved in an accident near Mount Pleasant, Utah, United States. 5 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured, 3 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

18 June 2011 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Mount Pleasant, Utah, United States

Coordinates

39.5219, -111.4083

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N65654

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Davis Brian W

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mount Pleasant → Mount Pleasant

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR11LA266

2 people were seriously injured.

The pilot’s failure to determine the airplane’s fuel quantity before takeoff, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On the day of the accident, the pilot reported that he expected the borrowed airplane’s fuel tanks to be full. Since there was no ladder available to visually view the fuel tank quantity or to use a dip stick, he relied on the fuel gauges, which indicated that the left tank was about 3/8 full and the right fuel gauge indicated full. After accomplishing two parachute drops, an individual asked the pilot to take him and his children on a local sightseeing flight. During that flight, the engine lost power and the pilot subsequently made a forced landing to a field. During the wreckage recovery, personnel reported that neither fuel tank was breached and that the tanks were empty, suggesting that the loss of engine power was due to fuel exhaustion. Throughout the day, the airplane’s fuel quantity gauges gave indications that suggested the tanks contained fuel, and the pilot, therefore, continued to fly the airplane without visually inspecting the quantity of fuel in the tanks. Postaccident examination and testing of the fuel quantity indicating system did not reveal any mechanical malfunctions or failures that would preclude normal operation. The pilot who previously flew the airplane reported that, although the protocol was that all individuals who borrowed the airplane were to fill its fuel tanks after using it, he had failed to do so and left about 5 gallons of fuel in one tank and about 3 gallons of fuel in the other.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.