Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

South Naknek, Alaska 99670
Sunday, June 23, 2002 16:30 AKD

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilot reported that he had been on a cross country flight for about 3.5 hours when the airplane's engine lost power. He said he restarted the engine, and initiated a climb to gain altitude. With the destination airport in sight, the airplane's engine again lost power, and would not restart. The pilot decided the airplane would not make it to the airport, and he banked the airplane steeply to align it with a road perpendicular to the route of flight. About 20 feet above the road, the airplane "fell out" and impacted the roadway. The airplane bounced off of the roadway, and impacted the terrain inverted. The pilot said he had a favorable tailwind during the flight, and therefore, he did not make a planned intermediate fuel stop. He said he planned the flight using a straight fuel burn of 5.5 gallons per hour, and had 26 gallons of fuel in the airplane's tanks for the flight. The Cessna owner's manual states that 22.5 gallons of the airplane's 26 gallon fuel capacity are usable, and that at 71% cruise power, the engine burns 5.3 gallons per hour, but at higher power settings the engine may burn as much as 7.2 gallons per hour. The pilot did not factor in a variable fuel burn rate for engine start, taxi, run-up, takeoff, and climb. The engine was mounted postaccident on a test stand, and ran at full rated rpm.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to refuel the airplane resulting in fuel exhaustion in cruise flight, and his inadvertently stalling the airplane during the ensuing emergency landing.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 6/23/2002
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1630
Event Time Zone --
Event City South Naknek
Event State ALASKA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 99670
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 584213N
Event Location Longitude 1570030W
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 Partial - limited by pilot
Investigator's weather source Pilot
Time of the weather observation
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID --
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation --
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 4000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Overcast
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) 80
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 20
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.54
Density Altitude (feet) --
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 1
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 2
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 12844
NTSB Notification Source FAA Anchorage, ROC
NTSB Notification Date Jun 23 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1700
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 15 2003 4:03PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Anchorage FSDO-03

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N3025X
NTSB Number ANC02LA058
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 150
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 15064425
Certified Max Gross Weight 1600
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 Annual
Date of Last Inspection May 5 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 50
Airframe Hours 3135
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Charles Grediagin
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Anchorage
Aircraft Owner State AK
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 99518
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Charles Grediagin
Operator Same as Owner? No
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 PAMR
Departure City Merrill Field
Departure State AK
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1300
Departure Time Zone ADT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code WSN
Destination City South Naknek
Destination State AK
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Approach
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Dec 26 2002 1:09PM
User who most recently changed record PETL
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 --