Diamond DA20-C1 N988CT

Summary

On 6 July 2023 at about 12:24 local time, a Diamond DA20-C1 registered N988CT, operated by Flight Club 502 Inc, was involved in an accident near Jeffersonville, Indiana, United States. 2 people were 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

6 July 2023 at 12:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Jeffersonville, Indiana, United States

Coordinates

38.3181, -85.6880

Aircraft

Diamond DA20-C1

Registration

N988CT

Category

Airplane

Year built

1999

Engines

1

Operator

Flight Club 502 Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Louisville → Louisville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA281

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper 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 flight instructor reported that, before the flight, he and his student inserted a calibrated wooden stick into the fuel tank to check the fuel quantity of the airplane and believed that it indicated just below ¾ tank, or about 16 gallons of fuel remaining. They completed the preflight inspection and proceeded with the flight to another airport for takeoff and landing practice. While at the other airport, they performed six circuits of the traffic pattern before proceeding back toward the departure airport. As they approached the airport, the flight instructor heard the engine speed decrease and initially thought his student had retarded the throttle, but she had not. The engine recovered briefly and then sputtered again. The flight instructor said he checked the mixture, master switch, ignition, and fuel pump settings, and the engine continued to have spurts of power. He surmised that they were experiencing a fuel issue and noted that the fuel gauge read empty. He notified air traffic control, and was cleared to land, but had insufficient altitude and executed a forced landing to a corn field. The airplane received substantial damage to the fuselage including separation of the empennage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no usable fuel remained in the fuel tank. The flight instructor reported that he believed the time of day, weather conditions and lighting combined with an expectation bias, contributed to misreading of the fuel stick, which likely read below ½ tank before the flight. He also noted that he prepared a safety presentation about the event to present to flying club members and other aviation meetings. Based on the available information, the engine power loss was due to exhaustion of the airplane’s fuel supply.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.