Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gakona, Alaska 99586
Tuesady, July 31, 2012 10:00 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was ferrying the airplane from Washington to Alaska. About 40 minutes into the sixth leg of the trip, the airplane’s engine lost all power, and the pilot made a forced landing to a tree-covered field, sustaining substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. A review of the pilot’s fueling receipts, along with the flight times on each of the legs, revealed that the engine was consuming an average of 14.6 gallons per hour (gph) of fuel during the first four legs of the trip. On the next leg, the fuel consumption rose to an average of 17.13 gph.
The airplane had flown a total time of 3:10:48, from the time the pilot last refueled. According to the airplane manufacturers cruise and range performance charts, if flown in accordance with the notes on the chart, the airplane should have had enough fuel to fly between four and five hours. However, if the most recent calculated actual fuel burn of 17.13 gph was used, the airplanes fuel endurance would have been about 3 hours 12 minutes.
Given the pilot’s statement that he did not lean the fuel mixture during the leg before the accident leg, the calculated fuel consumption on that leg, and the absence of fuel found in the fuel tanks postaccident, it is likely that the engine was using considerably more fuel than the pilot had calculated by the performance charts. The investigation was unable to determine if the unattached fuel bladder fasteners would have an effect on fuel quantity. Also, given the lack of anomaly during the test engine run, it is likely that the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper fuel planning, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/31/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Gakona |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99586 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 624316N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1435607W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 232 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAGK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1579 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 54 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 PAGK 311853Z 00000KT 10SM SCT050 SCT070TCU S |
| 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) | 32482 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Alaska State Troopers |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 11 2014 11:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johc |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7150E |
| NTSB Number | ANC12LA080 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 52150 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | Mar 1 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 4585 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROTTHOFF DAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Togiak |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99678 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | ROTTHOFF DAN |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Togiak |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99678 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PAOR |
| Departure City | Northway |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 900 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PAGK |
| Destination City | Gulkana |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 14 2014 11:26AM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| 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 | -- |