Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Emeryville, California 94608
Saturday, July 24, 1999 9:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot made a forced landing on an interstate highway following a loss of engine power. His destination was overcast with thick clouds so he flew inland and descended to a low altitude to get under them. He turned back toward his destination airport. The airplane was level at 1,500 feet under the overcast about 10 miles north of his destination when the engine power went to zero. The engine restarted and stopped two more times. He setup to land on the highway. He thought he might hit a car, so he pulled the nose up into a full stall. The airplane hit hard; the right wing hit a road sign and spun the airplane into a fence. The pilot had planned about 3 hours en route; actual flight time was 3 hours 40 minutes. Recovery personnel drained no fuel from the right tank and 2 drops of fuel from the left tank. They drained less than 3 ounces from the fuel sump. During a follow-up inspection, investigators supplied the engine with fuel. The engine started and they completed normal run-up checks of the magnetos and propeller. They ran the engine to full power without discovering any discrepancies. The airplane had been modified so that the original 145 horsepower Continental engine had been replaced with a 180 horsepower Textron Lycoming engine with a constant speed propeller. The FAA accident coordinator looked onboard the airplane, but did not find any supplements or changes to the airplane flight manual regarding this engine modification.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate in-flight planning and inadequate fuel consumption calculations, resulting in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Factors were the pilot's failure to have all appropriate flight manuals aboard the airplane and the low cloud ceilings.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/24/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | EMERYVILLE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94608 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | 850 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 320 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OAK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1100 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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) | 1967 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 24 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 945 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 10 2001 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5784T |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA256 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172E |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17251684 |
| 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 | Jul 10 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3840 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BRADLEY THOMPSON, SUE THOMPSON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN BERNARDINO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92417 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ANDY TESTMAN |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1745 SESSUMS |
| Operator City | REDLANDS |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 92374 |
| 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 | L12 |
| Departure City | REDLANDS |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 520 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HWD |
| Destination City | HAYWARD |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2001 4:09AM |
| 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 | -- |