Cessna 182D N9980T

Summary

On 30 June 2015 at about 03:13 local time, a Cessna 182D registered N9980T was involved in an accident near Oak Harbor, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one 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

30 June 2015 at 03:13

Classification

Accident

Location

Oak Harbor, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Aj Eisenberg (OKH)

Coordinates

48.2500, -122.6553

Aircraft

Cessna 182D

Registration

N9980T

Category

Airplane

Year built

1960

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Skydiving

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oak Harbor → Oak Harbor

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR15LA201

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot’s improper preflight fuel planning, which resulted in a total 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

The commercial pilot reported that, during a skydiving flight, the engine experienced a total loss of power during final approach for landing. The pilot initiated a forced landing to a field, and during the landing sequence, the airplane impacted a tree. No fuel was observed in the fuel tanks or fuel lines during recovery of the wreckage. Postaccident examination revealed no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. The company fuel log indicated that about 18.2 gallons of useable fuel were onboard the accident airplane before the first flight of the day; the accident occurred during the third flight. Although the amount of fuel onboard would have likely been adequate for three of the operator's 20-minute average flights, several flight delays occurred, and the airplane was flown a total of 2.1 hours between the three flights. Given the airplane's average fuel consumption, the fuel consumed during the three flights closely corresponded to the fuel available at the beginning of the day. Therefore, it is likely that the loss of engine power was the result of fuel exhaustion.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.