Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hopewell, Alabama 35022
Monday, November 25, 2013 11:15 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that, before departure, she checked the fuel gauges and estimated that the fuel tanks were just under 1/2 full and contained no less than 10 gallons of fuel. (The total fuel capacity was 26 gallons, of which 3.5 gallons were unusable.) She was unable to measure the fuel because she had dropped the measuring stick into the fuel tank. The flight departed, and, about 1 hour 15 minutes after departure and about 10 miles from the destination airport, the engine lost total power. The pilot unsuccessfully tried to restart the engine and subsequently performed a forced landing to a field.
No anomalies were found with the engine that would have precluded normal operation. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks were not breached and that they contained a total of 1/2 gallon of fuel. The pilot reported that, before departing the airport, she checked the weather, which indicated that wind aloft conditions were a left quartering headwind at 6 knots. However, the wind aloft report from a station about 10 nautical miles from the accident location indicated that the wind aloft conditions ranged from a quartering headwind of 10 to 35 knots depending on the altitude of flight, which increased the duration of the flight.
The pilot stated that the engine consumed about 4.4 to 5.6 gallons of fuel per hour; however, a review of the airplane owner’s manual performance charts revealed that the engine could consume up to 7 gallons of fuel per hour. Because of the headwind, the flight was 1 hour 15 minutes, which would have required up to 8.75 gallons of fuel; however, the pilot took off with about 6.5 to 8.5 gallons of usable fuel. Thus, it is likely that the airplane did not have enough fuel to reach the destination airport, and the engine lost total power as a result of fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, which resulted from the pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection and preflight and inflight fuel planning that did not account for increased headwind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/25/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1115 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Hopewell |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 35022 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 332125N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0865652W |
| 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 | 3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EET |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 586 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3300 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3300 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.33 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KEET 251653Z AUTO 12008KT 10SM OVC033 07/M04 A3033 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 33342 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern C-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 2 2014 11:37AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N16078 |
| NTSB Number | ERA14LA048 |
| 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 | 150L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15073460 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1601 |
| 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 | Oct 23 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3573 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHRISTENSON NEIL L |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | LITTLE FALLS |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 56345 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CHRISTENSON NEIL L |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | LITTLE FALLS |
| Operator State | MN |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 56345 |
| 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 | 9A4 |
| Departure City | Courtland |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1002 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | EKY |
| Destination City | Bessemer |
| Destination State | AL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 2 2014 11:37AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |