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CEN24LA068

2023-12-18 · Forney, Texas, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HQZ

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's inadequate fuel planning and improper in-flight decision-making, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that while returning from a 5-hour aerial survey flight, she noticed about a quarter tank of fuel indicated on each fuel gauge and continued the flight toward the destination airport. While on the approach, the pilot noticed that both engines sputtered and both fuel gauges indicated empty. The pilot conducted a forced landing to a highway median, and the airplane impacted guardrails. Both wings, the empennage, and fuselage sustained substantial damage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks contained no usable fuel. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Fence/fence post-Contributed to outcome
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_CEN24LA068.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