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CEN20CA249

2020-06-01 · Lahoma, Oklahoma, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport WDG

Current FAA registration · N6728U

Make / Model
MOONEY M20C
Year of manufacture
1963 · 57 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19630417
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A8E6A9

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and the pilot’s improper fuel planning before the flight.

Factual narrative

After about 1 hour of normal flight, the engine lost power. The pilot switched from the right fuel tank to the left fuel tank and the engine restarted. About 5 minutes later, the engine lost power again. The pilot decided to land the airplane in a field since the nearest airport was about 8 miles away. Upon touchdown in the field, the airplane hit a berm, and the landing gear collapsed. The aft fuselage and empennage sustained substantial damage. After the accident, the pilot reported that he was not familiar with the recently purchased airplane’s fuel system. He also stated that he normally topped off his fuel tanks before each flight, but he did not do so before the accident flight. Examination of the airplane at the accident site confirmed that there was no usable fuel on board. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_CEN20CA249.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

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