Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sky Ranch At Carefree Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Carefree, Arizona 85377
Friday, February 17, 2006 18:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted a road sign at night during a forced landing following a loss of engine power in cruise flight. The pilot reported that he ran out of gas and had not refueled the airplane since earlier in the week. Since that refueling the pilot conducted an additional cross-country flight and was flying his second when the accident occurred. He said he had performed some mental calculations prior to departing on the first leg of the accident flight and believed he had enough fuel to conduct both legs of the trip. However, in actuality he did not have enough fuel and the engine lost power about 30 minutes into the second leg of the flight. The pilot diverted to an airport for an emergency landing, but after realizing the airplane would not make it to the airport, he elected to land on a road marked by the tail lights of an automobile. Upon landing, the right wing impacted a road sign and the airplane veered into a ditch and brush. The pilot reported that if he had refueled prior to departing on either leg of the flight, the accident could have been averted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculations and his failure to refuel the airplane prior to the accident flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/17/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Carefree |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85377 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334905N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1115352W |
| Event Location Airport | Sky Ranch at Carefree |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 18AZ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 210 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DVT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1478 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -11 |
| 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) | 29.95 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | -- |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19676 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 30 2006 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N29377 |
| NTSB Number | LAX06CA120 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17700849 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Feb 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 2741.7 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | John Cullings |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Glendale |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85308 |
| 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 | PAN |
| Departure City | Payson |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DVT |
| Destination City | Phoenix |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 14 2006 4:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |