Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Placerville Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mountain Ranch, California 95246
Tuesady, June 4, 2002 15:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane lost engine power and collided with trees during a forced landing. The pilot planned the flight from Ramona, California, to the destination with an intermediate stop at Porterville. The total distance was 396 nm and the en route flight time was projected at 4 hours 6 minutes. The first leg to Porterville was uneventful and the pilot and passenger had lunch. No fuel was added to the tanks while at Porterville. The pilot said that during the second leg of the flight, about 1 hour 15 minutes after departure and while nearing the destination, the engine began to operate as though it was "starved for gasoline." The propeller continued to rotate; however, the engine failed to produce thrust. The pilot performed an emergency landing on a meadow and during the landing roll, the airplane impacted trees. Responding rescue personnel reported that there was no fire and no smell of fuel at the scene. An aircraft recovery service that retrieved the wreckage reported that no fuel was found in the aircraft at the accident site and that the vegetation surrounding the wreckage was not dead. An aircraft and engine examination, which included a detailed look at the fuel system components, revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction or failures. The aircraft was equipped with the standard range fuel tanks with a total useable capacity of 38 gallons.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight planning/preparation and his in-flight planning/decision resulting in fuel exhaustion and loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/4/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mountain Ranch |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95246 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 381300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1203200W |
| Event Location Airport | Placerville Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PVF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 31 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 30 |
| Airport Elevation | 2583 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1450 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MHR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 96 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2819 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17739 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 4 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1715 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2005 12:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N61569 |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA182 |
| 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 | 172M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17264647 |
| 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 | Mar 13 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 95 |
| Airframe Hours | 7659 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Cruisair Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2428 Montecito RD, Ste 800 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ramona |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92065 |
| 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 | PTV |
| Departure City | Porterville |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1245 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PVF |
| Destination City | Placerville |
| 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 | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |