Iowa City Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Iowa City, Iowa 52246
Wednesday, September 27, 1995 21:32 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The day before the accident, the airplane had flown from Newton, KS to Oklahoma City, OK, then to Shawnee, OK, and return to Newton, KS. It was not refueled. That same day, the operator made a business arrangement with the passengers to have them flown round trip from Tulsa, OK, to Iowa City, IA. The operator contacted the pilot requesting that he fly the Cessna 210. The pilot accepted although he had never flown a Cessna 210. The next day, after a 1/2-hour checkout at Newton, KS, the pilot flew to Tulsa, OK to pick up the passengers. While approaching Tulsa, the pilot reported that the fuel gauges indicated empty. The refuelers were told to top off the fuel tanks. The refueler put on 48.8 gals of fuel; the airplane held 120 gals total fuel. A passenger paid for the fuel. The pilot did not see the fuel slip nor did he learn that 48.8 gals of fuel had been added. The pilot did not visually check the fuel level during preflight. The pilot reported that he did not believe the fuel gauges were reliable. After 2.6 hours of flight, the airplane impacted trees and power lines 1/2 mile north of Iowa City Airport. There was no indication of fuel on the airplane, nor were there indications of fuel siphoning or leaking.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's inadequate preflight and lack of familiarity with the airplane. Factors involved were the bright night, trees and transmission wires.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/27/1995
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 2132
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City IOWA CITY
Event State IOWA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 52246
Event Date Year 1995
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport IOWA CITY MUNICIPAL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID IOW
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles 1
Degrees magnetic from airport 350
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness Full
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2153 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 170
Weather Observation Facility ID IOW
Elevation of weather observation facility 668
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Night/Bright
Lowest Ceiling Height 0
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 17
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 160
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 4
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal 1
Injury Total Minor 1
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 3
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 1769
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Sep 28 1995 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 846
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 7 2000 4:35PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N650GM
NTSB Number CHI95FA337
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model T210R
Aircraft Series Identifier T210R
Aircraft Serial Number 21064998
Certified Max Gross Weight 4100
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 6
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Mar 1 1995 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 59
Airframe Hours 1349
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name RALPH LOWRY AIRCRAFT SALES
Aircraft Owner Street Address 1116 N. OLIVER ROAD
Aircraft Owner City NEWTON
Aircraft Owner State KS
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 67114
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address
Operator City
Operator State
Operator Country
Operator Zip code
Operator Code
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation Unknown
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Business
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code RVS
Departure City TULSA
Departure State OK
Departure Country
Departure Time 1905
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code IOW
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Approach
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:34AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 0
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --