Ontario Int'l Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Riverside, California 92502
Monday, October 21, 2002 10:02 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During the instrument approach the engine quit, and the pilot attempted a forced landing in hilly terrain and poor visibility. According to flight planning information recovered from inside the airplane, it had departed with full fuel (63.5 useable gallons). The airplane had been airborne for about 3:17 hours at the time of the accident. Prior to disassembly of the airplane for recovery, the recovery agent drained the fuel tanks. The left tank had about 13 gallons of blue liquid with the odor of aviation gasoline, and the right tank was empty. The manufacturer ran the engine in a test cell. It performed normally without any hesitation or interruptions in power from idle to full throttle.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the pilot's failure to position the fuel selector to the tank containing fuel resulting in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/21/2002
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 1002
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Riverside
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 92502
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 340200N
Event Location Longitude 1173000W
Event Location Airport Ontario Int'l
Event Location Nearest Airport ID ONT
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 Full
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2353 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 290
Weather Observation Facility ID KONT
Elevation of weather observation facility 943
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 5
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 700
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Overcast
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 2
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 14
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.94
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 2
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 3
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 16889
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Oct 21 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1025
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Dec 28 2004 12:45PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Instrument Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-RAL-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N9788X
NTSB Number LAX03LA014
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 210C
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 21058088
Certified Max Gross Weight 3000
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 Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Apr 25 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 5135
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Yes
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name McIntire Law Corp
Aircraft Owner Street Address PO Box 1647
Aircraft Owner City Big Bear City
Aircraft Owner State CA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 92315
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 GUP
Departure City Gallup
Departure State NM
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 645
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code ONT
Destination City Ontario
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Approach
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Oct 28 2004 5:59PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 26L
Runway Length 10200
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --