Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Perry Park Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Larkspur, Colorado 80118
Monday, February 26, 2001 11:44 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Shortly after departure, the flight instructor and his student became cold. The heater control was not in the usual position on the instrument panel (both pilots were accustomed to flying later model Cessna 172s). The student located a "white knob" but could not read the nomenclature plate. Believing it was the heater control, he pulled the knob. Approximately 1.5 hours later, the engine lost power. The instructor assumed control of the airplane and turned towards a private airstrip about 2 miles away. He instructed the student to make emergency radio calls and try restarting the engine. Strong headwinds prevented the airplane from gliding to the runway. The airplane stalled and impacted terrain. The airplane had been aloft for 1.7 hours when the engine lost power. Postaccident inspection disclosed the student had inadvertently pulled the fuel strainer control knob instead of the cabin heat control knob. There were no fuel stains on the bottom of the airplane. The fuel strainer control is spring-loaded to the CLOSED position. Examination disclosed the spring was missing. According to the Cessna 172F SERVICING INTERVALS CHECK LIST, the fuel strainer should be disassembled and cleaned every 100 hours. The last 100 hour inspection performed on N8389U was on December 14, 2000, 85.67 hours before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flight instructor inadvertently stalling the airplane during a forced landing. Contributing factors were fuel exhaustion due to inadvertent opening of the fuel drain, lack of familiarity with the airplane, inadequate supervision of the flight, and the missing strainer spring.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/26/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1144 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Larkspur |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80118 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Perry Park |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CO93 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 340 |
| Airport Elevation | 6700 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | APA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5883 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 24 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 22000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5950 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10230 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 26 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1151 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2001 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, Colorado |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8389U |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA055 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17252289 |
| 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 | Dec 14 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 89 |
| Airframe Hours | 5191 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Flatirons Aviation Corp. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3300 Airport Rd., Box L |
| Aircraft Owner City | Boulder |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80301 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | YFAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | COS |
| Departure City | Colo. Springs |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1120 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 1V5 |
| Destination City | Boulder |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2001 2:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 5700 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |