Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hite, Utah 84533
Saturday, June 29, 2002 12:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was about 30 miles away from the airport when the airplane's engine lost power. He said he tried to find a place to land. The pilot said, "I found a very small dirt road, so I turned base and then final for it. We had a big tailwind at this point and we overshot the road. I then turned to the right and set it down in the middle of the desert. The landing was soft until we ran out of room and hit a ditch. We almost stopped and the front tire dug in, and it lifted us straight up and then we rolled over slowly on to the top of the plane." In his statement to a Federal Aviation Administration Inspector, the pilot said that he ran out of fuel. An examination of the airplane's fuel system showed no fuel in the tanks. No other pre-impact anomalies were found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper in-flight planning resulting in fuel exhaustion. A factor relating to the accident was the unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing attempt.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/29/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Hite |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84533 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 372632N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1103411W |
| 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 | 1156 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 222 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PGA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4310 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 52 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7311 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12515 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 29 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N725EC |
| NTSB Number | DEN02LA066 |
| 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 | 17260842 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Christopher G. Hedge |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4756 28th Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Boulder |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80301 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | David L. Metzger |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Westminster |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80031 |
| 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 | 1V5 |
| Departure City | Boulder |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 915 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | U96 |
| Destination City | Halls Crossing |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2002 10:43AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |