Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fairfax, Iowa 52228
Sunday, April 20, 2008 21:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot departed on a 3-leg round-robin flight under night visual meteorological (VMC) conditions. He did not refuel the airplane prior to departure. During the second leg of the flight, the pilot picked up two passengers and flew for about 30 minutes and deplaned them at the same airport. Then the pilot continued on the third flight leg. He was en route at 3,000 feet msl when the engine began to run rough and lost about 50 percent of its power. The pilot reported that the engine quit and he executed a forced landing to a field. The airplane nosed over in the soft soil. The Hobbs meter indicated that the accident flight was 2.9 hours in length. The pilot who flew the accident airplane previously that day reported that he did not top off the fuel prior to the 1.1-hour flight that he flew. He did not add fuel after the flight, which left about 22.3 gallons of useable fuel on board the airplane. The Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) indicated that the airplane used about 9.7 gallons of fuel during the 1.1 hour flight. According to the POH, the airplane used about 7.9 gallons per hour in cruise flight at 2,500 feet msl. An additional 1-gallon of fuel was consumed in the climb to 2,500 feet msl. The estimated fuel consumed during the accident flight was about 23.9 gallons.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and inaccurate fuel calculations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/20/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2100 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fairfax |
| Event State | IOWA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 52228 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 415643N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0914828W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2052 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 160 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CID |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KCID 210152Z 11008KT 9SM CLR 14/11 A2988 RMK |
| 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) | 24616 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 21 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2008 3:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | guzj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-DES MOINES FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9832G |
| NTSB Number | CHI08LA108 |
| 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 | 172L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17259732 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Apr 12 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 385 |
| Airframe Hours | 8815 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Green Castle Aeor Club Ltd. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2154 250th St NW |
| Aircraft Owner City | Oxford |
| Aircraft Owner State | IA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 52322 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Green Castle Aeor Club Ltd. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2154 250th St NW |
| Operator City | Oxford |
| Operator State | IA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 52322 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ALO |
| Departure City | Waterloo |
| Departure State | IA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2000 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | IA24 |
| Destination City | Oxford |
| Destination State | IA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2008 3:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | guzj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |