Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Saline Valley, California 93515
Friday, June 25, 1999 10:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight departed its home base, flew to another airport, and was returning home when the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion. The pilot reported that he took off originally with full fuel tanks and had not refueled at the en route stop. He stated that he had the fuel selector positioned to the right tank, but he noticed that both the left and right fuel gauges indicated decreasing amounts of fuel. The right fuel gauge dropped to 'empty' and the engine suddenly quit. He switched the fuel selector to the left tank, turned on the boost pump, and the engine restarted. The engine quit again as he was over a group of mountains. The pilot was high and fast during the forced landing to a road and collided with an embankment. The airplane had been topped off with fuel 2 weeks prior to the accident, but the pilot did not remember if he had flown the airplane in that 2-week period; he did not maintain any type of pilot logbook or flight record. He thought that the fuel strainer valve had been stuck in the open position, allowing the fuel to drain out. According to Cessna, fuel cannot be used from both fuel tanks simultaneously, and if the fuel strainer had been stuck open, fuel would drain out only from the tank selected on the fuel selector valve. The airplane and engine were examined by an FAA inspector, with no mechanical discrepancies found. The pilot reported that he hadn't experienced any mechanical problems prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to verify the fuel quantity prior to departure, which led to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/25/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SALINE VALLEY |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93515 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1056 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BIH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4120 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 50 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1691 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 25 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1650 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 3:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8728Q |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA231 |
| 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 | TU206F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | TU206F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | U20603471 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 21 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2300 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | KEN KESSLER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 417 MANDICH ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | BISHOP |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93518 |
| 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 | 61B |
| Departure City | BOULDER CITY |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 945 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BIH |
| Destination City | BISHOP |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2001 10:25AM |
| 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 | -- |