Corona Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Corona, California 91720
Wednesday, August 9, 2000 13:45 PDT

The airplane lost engine power on takeoff and made an off airport landing in an open field adjacent to the departure end of the runway. After touchdown the nose landing gear dug into the soft dirt and the airplane became inverted. The purpose of the both flights on the day of the accident was to conduct pattern work. The student pilot had flown the accident airplane earlier in the day and noted a loss of power on the climb out, which he attributed to the wind. The engine came back online and he continued the flight. When he came back to land he noted the same loss of power. He shutdown the engine and took a break before flying again. Prior to the accident flight he conducted a preflight. He visually verified, with the fuel gage and checking the fuel tank, that there was 1/4 tank of fuel. He concluded that there was a sufficient amount of fuel for the duration of his flight. No discrepancies were noted with the first takeoff and landing. On the second takeoff, the engine started to lose power and he made an off airport landing. During the recovery, no fuel was found on-scene. The fuel system was inspected and found to be intact. Approximately 1 gallon of fuel was drained from the aircraft to engine fuel line. An engine run was conducted with no discrepancies noted. The airplane was refueled the day before the accident with 9 gallons of fuel, which brought the total amount of fuel on board to 15 gallons. According to flight logs, the airplane flew for 2.2 hours the day before the accident. The pilot stated that he flew .4 hours prior to the accident flight. According to the airplane manufacturer, the airplane burns 3.0 gallons of fuel an hour at a power setting of 1,800 rpm, and 3.5 gallons of fuel is unusable.

The student pilot's inadequate preflight planning which included improper fuel consumption calculations that led to fuel exhaustion and loss of engine power during takeoff.