Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Patuxent River Nas Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Patuxent River, Maryland 20670
Thursday, August 1, 2002 14:20 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Prior to his departure, the pilot performed a preflight inspection and determined the fuel onboard the airplane by observing the fuel gauges in the cockpit. The gauges indicated the fuel tanks were about 1/4 - 1/2 full, or 8 gallons of fuel per tank. The pilot stated he did not visually check the fuel tanks because he did not have a way to measure the fuel. The pilot added 20 additional gallons of fuel, for a total of 36 gallons of fuel onboard, which he estimated to be 4 1/2 hours flight time. After fueling the airplane, the fuel gauges read about 3/4 full on each tank. The pilot flew direct to his destination; however, he did not perform any fuel burn calculations en route. Approximately 3 miles from the airport, the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot checked the fuel gauges, which indicated 1/8 full on the left side and 1/4 full on the right side. He unsuccessfully attempted to restart the engine, and performed a forced landing approximately 1/2 mile short of the runway. Examination of the airplane revealed that the left wing tank was completely empty and 1/8 inch of fuel remained in the right wing tank. The airplane's fuel system was examined and no pre-impact anomalies were noted. A test run of the engine was performed on the airframe, and it started without hesitation and ran continuously through a variety of power settings. An accurate test of the fuel level transmitters and fuel gauges was unable to be performed during the initial examination, because they were removed and retained by the operator. The pilot had accumulated 124 hours of fixed-wing flight experience, 9 of which were in make and model, and 691 hours in rotorcraft.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate fuel calculations, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a subsequent loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/1/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1420 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Patuxent River |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20670 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 381830N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0762458W |
| Event Location Airport | Patuxent River NAS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NHK |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 39 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NHK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 39 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2329 |
| 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) | 14278 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 1 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| 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 | Dulles FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1177M |
| NTSB Number | IAD02LA080 |
| 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 | 172K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17258677 |
| 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 | Jul 18 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 13 |
| Airframe Hours | 3430 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Samuel W Carson Jr. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Waldorf |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20603 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Patuxent River Naval Flying Club |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | NAS Patuxent River |
| Operator State | MD |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 20670 |
| 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 | MYR |
| Departure City | Myrtle Beach |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1145 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | NHK |
| Destination City | Patuxent River |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 12 2003 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 06 |
| Runway Length | 11809 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |