Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Murray, Utah 84107
Saturday, September 18, 1999 13:36 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The CFI was giving the student pilot a mountain checkout and after approximately 1.6 hours of flight, the engine lost power. An emergency descent and was made to a field and the aircraft struck trees during the landing roll. The CFI said they had approximately 13 gallons of fuel on board at departure and the flight manual provides information that the aircraft uses approximately 6 gallons of fuel per hour in cruise flight and approximately 3.5 gallons of fuel is unusable. Following the accident, an FAA inspector examined the aircraft and drained approximately 1.4 gallons of fuel from the tanks. He found no evidence of a fuel leak nor evidence of engine malfunction.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

A forced landing on unsuitable terrain. Factors were fuel exhaustion and inaccurate preflight planning by the flight instructor.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/18/1999
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 1336
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City MURRAY
Event State UTAH
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 84107
Event Date Year 1999
Event Date Month 9
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 1356 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 355
Weather Observation Facility ID SLC
Elevation of weather observation facility 4227
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 10
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 25000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 12000
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) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 27
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 7
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 310
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) 29
Density Altitude (feet) 6500
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) 812
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Sep 18 1999 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 2012
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 12 2000 11:55AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N65602
NTSB Number DEN99LA165
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 152
Aircraft Series Identifier 152
Aircraft Serial Number 15281643
Certified Max Gross Weight 1675
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 2
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Jun 1 1998 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 30
Airframe Hours 6000
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name RAUL W. SMITH
Aircraft Owner Street Address GENE SORENSON DR.
Aircraft Owner City EL PASO
Aircraft Owner State TX
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 79900
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name EDITH E. STEELE
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 3874 BLUE BIRD CIRCLE
Operator City WEST VALLEY
Operator State UT
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 84120
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) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code U42
Departure City SALT LAKE CITY
Departure State UT
Departure Country
Departure Time 1340
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code SLC
Destination City
Destination State UT
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Cruise
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:30AM
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 --