Cessna 172P N63835

Summary

On 11 September 2014 at about 00:21 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N63835, operated by Liao Aviation Inc., was involved in an accident near Spruce Creek, Florida, 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

11 September 2014 at 00:21

Classification

Accident

Location

Spruce Creek, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Spruce Creek (7FL6)

Coordinates

29.0992, -81.0706

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N63835

Category

Airplane

Year built

1981

Engines

1

Operator

Liao Aviation Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Spruce Creek → Spruce Creek

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA14LA434

2 people had minor injuries.

A total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, which resulted from the pilots’ improper preflight and in-flight fuel planning.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and pilot receiving instruction departed on a training flight, and the pilot stated that the fuel tanks were "almost full." After 3 hours 24 minutes of flight, which included three full-power takeoffs and climbs, the engine experienced a total loss of power on final approach to the destination airport. According to Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control records, multiple one-leg flight plans were filed for the flight. Based on this information, the estimated fuel endurance was 3 hours 20 minutes. The pilot receiving instruction stated that the fuel selector was in the "both" position throughout the flight but that, on final approach, he noticed that the fuel selector had been switched to the "right" tank position, so he moved the fuel selector back to the "both" position. Shortly thereafter, the engine stopped producing power. The flight instructor stated that the pilot inadvertently selected the "off" position instead of the "both" position when he moved the fuel selector from the "right" tank position. During the subsequent forced landing, the airplane's cabin and fuselage were damaged, but both wing fuel tanks remained intact. No signs of in-flight or postaccident fuel leakage were found. Postaccident examination showed that the left wing tank contained no fuel and that the right wing tank contained about 3 gallons of fuel. A test run of the engine was performed following the accident using the fuel found in the right wing tank. The engine started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran continuously with no anomalies observed. According to the airplane manufacturer, the airplane's fuel tanks had a total capacity of 43 gallons, of which 3 gallons were unusable. Based on this information, it is likely that the pilots exhausted all of the usable fuel during the flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power on final approach to their destination airport.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.