Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pierce County-Thun Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Puyallup, Washington 98373
Tuesady, September 29, 1998 22:20 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot-in-command topped off the 42 gallon (38 gallons usable fuel) Cessna 172L but did not visually check the fuel. He then departed on a series of flights covering more than 354 nautical miles and 5.33 hours of flight time, including four intermediate stops where no fuel was added to the aircraft. Upon return to his point of origination he elected to execute a touch-and-go landing during which the aircraft's engine stopped operating on the climb-out. He then executed a forced landing under dark night conditions on a north-south thoroughfare (highway 161) and impacted a vehicle during the forced landing. Post-crash examination resulted in 2 cups of fuel being retrieved from the right wing fuel tank and 3 quarts from the left wing fuel tank. An FAA inspector on site was able to retrieve 4 drops of fuel from the gascolator following the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot-in-command's failure to refuel en-route resulting in fuel exhaustion. Contributing factors were a vehicle (in the landing path) and dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/29/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2220 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | PUYALLUP |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98373 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | PIERCE COUNTY-THUN FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1S0 |
| 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 | 320 |
| Airport Elevation | 534 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2155 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 255 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TCM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 292 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| 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 | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1500 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 29 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2245 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:47AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2880Q |
| NTSB Number | SEA98LA191 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172L |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17259880 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 22 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 3509 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BARNETT AND THOMPSON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16709 MERIDIAN EAST, UNIT 2 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PUYALLUP |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98373 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SPANAFLIGHT |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 16715 MERIDIAN EAST |
| Operator City | PUYALLUP |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 98373 |
| 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 | BFI |
| Departure City | SEATTLE |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2130 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 1S0 |
| Destination City | PUYALLUP |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| 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 | 34 |
| Runway Length | 3650 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |