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ATL90LA097

1990-04-15 · LAFAYETTE, Georgia, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 9A5

Current FAA registration · N761YK

Make / Model
CESSNA T210M
Year of manufacture
1978 · 12 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR TSIO-520 SER (300 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19780626
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA476F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO PROPERLY MANAGE HIS FUEL SUPPLY, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER, DUE TO FUEL STARVATION.

Factual narrative

THE FLIGHT WAS REPORTED AS ROUTINE UNTIL THE PILOT WAS CLEARED TO A LOWER ALTITUDE. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, THE PILOT INFORMED THE APPROACH CONTROLLER OF AN ENGINE PROBLEM. HE WAS GIVEN RADAR VECTORS TO THE NEAREST AIRPORT. AS THE PILOT TURNED FROM BASE TO FINAL, HE LOWERED THE LANDING GEAR. A HIGH SINK RATE DEVELOPED AND THE FLIGHT CRASHED SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE TYPICALLY RAN ONE FUEL TANK DRY BEFORE SWITCHING TANKS. IN THIS CASE, THE ENGINE LOST POWER AND HE SELECTED THE OTHER TANK, BUT THE ENGINE WOULD NOT RESPOND WHEN HE ATTEMPTED A RESTART. THE ENGINE WAS FUEL INJECTED. REPORTEDLY, LOSS OF PRIME MAY HAVE RESULTED IN DIFFICULTY IN RESTARTING. THE PILOT WAS AWARE OF FUEL IN THE LEFT TANK. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_ATL90LA097.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel starvation). All research papers