Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hemet, California 92546
Saturday, April 26, 1997 14:33 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The engine lost power during cruise flight, and the airplane was destroyed during the subsequent forced landing. During the investigation of the airframe and engine, no fuel was found in either aircraft wing tank, the fuel feed line to the engine, or the fuel filter bowl. No other preevent malfunctions or abnormalities were discovered in either the airframe or the engine. During his preflight inspection, the pilot stated that the cockpit fuel gauges did not agree with the amount of fuel he saw when he visually checked the fuel tanks for quantity. However, he did not dip check the tanks to verify the amount of fuel onboard. Available aircraft and fueling records indicated that at the time of the accident the aircraft had been flown for 5.3 hours since last refueled, with four takeoffs and landings accomplished. The pilot's handbook for the aircraft states a maximum endurance of 5.5 hours with one takeoff and landing included.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's decision not to dip check the aircraft fuel tanks after he had noted a disagreement between the cockpit fuel gages and what he had observed visually in the fuel tanks, and his failure to accomplish in-flight endurance calculations based on aircraft handbook performance data, which led to the engine power loss due to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/26/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1433 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | HEMET |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92546 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1500 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 95 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RAL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 816 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 12 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2000 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 3 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 715 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 26 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1518 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5482N |
| NTSB Number | LAX97LA168 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | T182 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | T182 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18267751 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3112 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 11 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 11 |
| Airframe Hours | 1752 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AERO AM FLIGHT SERVICES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 37552 WINCHESTER RD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | MURRIETA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92563 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L77 |
| Departure City | CHIRIACO SUMMIT |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | F70 |
| Destination City | FRENCH VALLEY |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | -- |