Cessna 150 N4729U

Summary

On 25 March 2020 at about 23:30 local time, a Cessna 150 registered N4729U was involved in an accident near McKinney, Texas, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 March 2020 at 23:30

Classification

Accident

Location

McKinney, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Aero Country (T31)

Coordinates

33.2025, -96.7436

Aircraft

Cessna 150

Registration

N4729U

Category

Airplane

Year built

1965

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

McKinney → McKinney

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20LA133

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate preflight fuel planning and inflight fuel management, which resulted in fuel exhaustion 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 conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane and estimated that he had about 14 gallons of fuel on board before departure based on measuring the fuel in the tanks with a dipstick. He then completed a 1-hour, round-trip flight during which he conducted three touch-and-go landings at the first destination, then returned to the departure airport and completed three more touch-and-go landings. During climbout after the third landing, the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot was unable to restart the engine and made a forced landing to a golf course; the airplane collided with a tee box and nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane’s wings, forward fuselage, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. While the airplane was inverted, fuel was leaking from the fuel tank caps, but the fuel caps remained intact and secured. After the airplane was flipped upright, 2 to 3 gallons of fuel were drained from the tanks. The airplane's unusable fuel is 3.5 gallons.  Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of fuel in the rest of the fuel system and no other pre-accident anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Based on that lack of usable fuel in the fuel system, it is likely that the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and inflight fuel management resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.