Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Iowa City Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Iowa City, Iowa 52246
Monday, October 6, 2008 20:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot planned a local night flight to an airport approximately 16 miles north-northwest of the departure airport. He noted that the fuel gauges indicated nearly full on the left fuel tank and about 1/3 on the right fuel tank. The pilot indicated that he had not visually checked the fuel level prior to flight, but had relied on the fuel gauge indications. He reported that after departure, the flight proceeded to the intermediate airport as planned. He executed a practice Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach and landed without incident. The pilot stated that before the return flight, the fuel gauges indicated "a little less than full" on the left fuel tank and about 1/4 on the right fuel tank. After takeoff, the flight proceeded direct to the intended destination at 2,500 feet mean sea level (msl). With no reported traffic in the area, the pilot selected a straight-in approach. However, about 3/4 of a mile from the runway the engine began to lose power. His efforts to restore full power were not successful. The mixture control had not been adjusted after takeoff and was at full rich for the entire flight. He attempted to stretch the glide to reach the runway, but the left wing struck a tree during the approach. The airplane subsequently impacted an adjacent roadway. A post accident inspection by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the fuel tanks did not appear to be breached, and that only a small amount of fuel remained in the fuel tanks. A review of the airplane flight log and fueling records revealed that it had been flown 3.4 hours since it was last refueled. Manufacturer's documentation noted that the airplane’s fuel capacity was 26 gallons total, with 22.5 gallons usable. Fuel consumption ranged from 4.9 gallons per hour (gph) at 65-percent power to 5.9 gph at 78-percent power (full throttle) at 2,000 feet pressure altitude. Approximately an additional 0.8 gallons are consumed during start-up, taxi, and takeoff.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's failure to visually verify that sufficient fuel was on-board prior to flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/6/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2015 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Iowa City |
| Event State | IOWA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 52246 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413823N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0913250W |
| Event Location Airport | Iowa City Muni |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | IOW |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 668 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 2010 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IOW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 668 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24641 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-AGL ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 10 2008 5:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N533JR |
| NTSB Number | CEN09CA021 |
| 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 | 150M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15077267 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 24 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5386 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JET AIR INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1801 S RIVERSIDE DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | IOWA CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | IA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 52246-5704 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | JET AIR INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1801 S RIVERSIDE DR |
| Operator City | IOWA CITY |
| Operator State | IA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 52246-5704 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CID |
| Departure City | Cedar Rapids |
| Departure State | IA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2000 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | IOW |
| Destination City | Iowa City |
| Destination State | IA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 2 2008 12:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12 |
| Runway Length | 3900 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |