NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN23LA393
Registry · N172SP
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA R172K
Year of manufacture
1977 · 46 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR IO-360 SER (300 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19771210
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A12239
Registrant of record
LUKE AIRLINES LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s inadequate fuel management which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that while en route to his planned fuel stop destination, the engine experienced a slight hesitation. The pilot then changed course to the nearest airport and turned on the auxiliary fuel pump. The engine roughness stopped for about 15 seconds, then occurred again, and the engine subsequently lost total power. Unable to maintain altitude and reach the nearest airport, the pilot conducted a forced landing to a roadway. During the forced landing, the airplane’s left wing tip struck a roadway sign, and the right float impacted a moving vehicle that was on the roadway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing rear spar. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the left fuel tank contained no usable fuel, and the right tank contained about 14 gallons of fuel. The fuel selector was found in the left fuel tank position. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2023_CEN23LA393.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel starvation). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗