Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hubler Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Middleton, Idaho 83644
Wednesday, June 4, 2003 20:10 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the Cessna 175 departed Caldwell, Idaho, with 52 gallons of fuel (43 gallons usable total or 4.5 gallons unusable fuel per tank) and flew 1 hour and 40 minutes to his destination, Echo, Oregon. He subsequently departed Echo and flew back to his origination airport arriving over the airstrip about 1 hour and 20 minutes later. During the return flight he selected the left tank to balance out the fuel load and left the fuel selector in that position. While overhead his destination the engine lost power, and having no time to troubleshoot the problem, and not wanting to risk crossing high trees in an attempt to reach the end of the runway, he executed a forced landing off airport. The aircraft rolled through uneven terrain incurring substantial damage. An FAA inspector examined the aircraft and found approximately one gallon of fuel in the left tank and approximately 14 gallons of fuel in the right. The first item on the Cessna 175 Owner's Manual "Before Landing" checklist was: Set fuel selector to "both tanks."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to follow the checklist which led to fuel starvation and subsequent loss of engine power. A contributing factor was the uneven terrain at the landing site.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/4/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2010 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Middleton |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83644 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 434147N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1163802W |
| Event Location Airport | Hubler Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ID00 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 30 |
| Airport Elevation | 2385 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2015 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 192 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EUL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2432 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| 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 | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15019 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 4 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2029 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 2 2004 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Boise FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7238M |
| NTSB Number | SEA03LA093 |
| 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 | 175 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 55538 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 2 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 29 |
| Airframe Hours | 3290 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Hubler, Bruce F. & Becky L. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Caldwell |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83605 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Wilder |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83676 |
| 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 | OL02 |
| Departure City | Echo |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1850 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ID00 |
| Destination City | Caldwell |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 26 2003 12:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |