Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Paragonah, Utah 84760
Friday, September 16, 2011 10:00 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane was in cruise flight when its engine lost power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a road, but, during the landing roll, he noticed a vehicle coming toward him. He turned the airplane to the right, off the road, through a fence, and into an adjacent field. A local law enforcement officer examined the airplane immediately after the accident and found both fuel tanks empty. He also noted that the left fuel tank’s cap was missing. Three days after the accident, the pilot found the fuel cap in the run-up area at the departure airport. The pilot stated that he had filled both fuel tanks before beginning the flight and that he either did not replace the fuel cap or left it loose following the refueling. Without the fuel cap in place, airflow over the wing suctioned fuel out of the left wing tank during flight. Because of the interconnection between the two wing fuel tanks, fuel from the right wing tank flowed into the left tank and was also lost overboard, resulting in fuel exhaustion.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to secure the left tank's fuel cap after refueling the airplane, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/16/2011
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1000
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City Paragonah
Event State UTAH
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 84760
Event Date Year 2011
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 375333N
Event Location Longitude 1124632W
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 953 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 235
Weather Observation Facility ID CDC
Elevation of weather observation facility 5610
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 20
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 8500
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
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) 17
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 8
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator Variable
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Light and Variable
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.09
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Minor
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor 1
Injury Total None 3
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 30454
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Nov 9 2012 11:53AM
User who most recently changed record johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N1843X
NTSB Number WPR11LA452
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 182H
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 18255943
Certified Max Gross Weight 2800
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 Sep 3 2011 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 3639
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type Unknown
Aircraft Owner Name Bromley, Don Curtis
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Roosevelt
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84066
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Bromley, Don Curtis
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Roosevelt
Operator State UT
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 84066
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 74V
Departure City Roosevelt
Departure State UT
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 815
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code DXZ
Destination City St. George
Destination State UT
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Aug 29 2012 2:41PM
User who most recently changed record coos
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --