Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Clarita, California 91331
Thursday, March 14, 2002 19:23 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot made an off airport landing on a highway at night following a total loss of engine power. He had flown the airplane the day before for about 2 hours, and had visually verified full fuel before that flight. He estimated that he had over 2 hours of fuel remaining in the tanks. He experienced no difficulties with the airplane or engine during the first leg of his flight, which lasted about 30 minutes. During the return flight, he had the fuel selector valve on the "BOTH" position. He began his descent from cruise altitude of 6,000 feet. The engine began to sputter and lose power, but continued to run for about 4 minutes. He tried operating of the left and right tanks individually, but the engine remained at reduced power. He alternated the magnetos between the left, right, and both positions. The engine did not respond and eventually quit. He declared an emergency on frequency 121.5; he circled and looked for a landing spot, but it was too dark. He thought Interstate 5 was too busy, so he elected to land on a side road. His wing collided with a light pole and the airplane veered into a fence. Both wings separated from the airplane and the fuselage ripped open. A deputy, who arrived on scene within 5 minutes of the accident, did not smell fuel, observe any puddles of fuel on the ground, or see any fuel stains on the pole. The left wing tank ruptured, but the right wing tank did not. The deputy did not observe any fuel in the right tank.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot performed inadequate planning and inaccurate fuel computations, and intiated flight without refueling. This resulted in a forced landing on a road at night due to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/14/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1923 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | SANTA CLARITA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91331 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1946 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WHP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1003 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14307 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 14 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1946 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-VNY-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N11487 |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA107 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17702341 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2500 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 26 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 73 |
| Airframe Hours | 5444 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SKYCOMBER, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12657 OSBORNE ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | PACOIMA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91331 |
| 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 | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L71 |
| Departure City | CALIFORNIA CITY |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | WHP |
| Destination City | LOS ANGELES |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 18 2003 6:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |