Cessna 170B N4398B

Summary

On 24 April 2022 at about 01:20 local time, a Cessna 170B registered N4398B was involved in an accident near Ravensdale, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 April 2022 at 01:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Ravensdale, Washington, United States

Coordinates

47.3015, -121.8475

Aircraft

Cessna 170B

Registration

N4398B

Category

Airplane

Year built

1955

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Republic → Enumclaw

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22LA166

2 people were seriously injured.

A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot’s inadequate fuel planning.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot flew and picked up a passenger for a cross-country flight with multiple intermediate legs and a return destination to his original departure airport. About 1 hour and 20 minutes into the accident leg, about 3,000 ft above the ground, the engine lost all power. The pilot restarted the engine, but it lost all power again about 30 seconds later. The pilot then maneuvered the airplane towards a road for a forced landing. The airplane struck treetops and came to rest upright on a riverbank. Recovery of the airplane revealed that less than a gallon of fuel was retrieved from the two 20-gallon wing fuel tanks. Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine did not reveal any preimpact mechanical anomalies. The pilot stated that the engine consumed 12 gallons of fuel per hour and calculated that he had about 3 hours of flight time after filling the aircraft with 34–36 gallons of fuel. Fuel planning calculations revealed that at the time of the loss of engine power, the airplane flew for a total of about 2.8 hours and would have consumed about 42 gallons of fuel. It is likely that the pilot exhausted all usable fuel as he decided to divert to another airport without proper fuel planning.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.