Mooney M20C N78988

Summary

On 26 August 2019 at about 23:44 local time, a Mooney M20C registered N78988 was involved in an accident near Reno, Nevada, United States. 3 people were on board and 2 were 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

26 August 2019 at 23:44

Classification

Accident

Location

Reno, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Reno/Stead (RTS)

Coordinates

39.6569, -119.8575

Aircraft

Mooney M20C

Registration

N78988

Category

Airplane

Year built

1962

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gerlach → Reno

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR19LA243

2 people were seriously injured.

The pilot's improper inflight fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot and two passengers departed on a cross-country flight. As they approached the destination airport, shortly after the pilot switched the fuel tank selector from the left tank to the right tank, the engine lost total power. During the subsequent forced landing, the airplane impacted a fence and then the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing. Examination of the airplane revealed no preimpact anomalies with the engine, which ran continuously and displayed no anomalies. Fuel computations based on a photo of the airplane’s fuel gauges before departure indicated that the airplane should have contained enough fuel to complete the flight; however, the left fuel gauge and sender may have erroneously indicated that the left fuel tank contained a greater fuel quantity than it actually did. Testing of the fuel gauge and sender was inconclusive due the unknown condition of the units at the time of the accident. The pilot did not have a means to visually confirm fuel quantities other than full and regularly computed his fuel remaining by calculating the total fuel consumption for each flight, using the fuel quantity gauges as a secondary indicator. During flight, he balanced his fuel levels by switching tanks every 30 minutes; however, the pilot stated that during the flight before the accident, he may have become task saturated and forgot to switch tanks, which would have created a fuel imbalance and rendered his fuel computation incorrect for the accident flight. It is likely that the fuel quantity in the right tank was several gallons less than what the pilot calculated, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.