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CEN25LA080

2025-01-16 · Omaha, Nebraska, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MLE

Current FAA registration · N71586

Make / Model
LUSCOMBE 8A
Year of manufacture
1946 · 79 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR A&C65 SERIES (65 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A9922F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that while in the traffic pattern, the engine completely lost power. He switched fuel tanks, but engine power was not restored. The pilot conducted a forced landing and impacted trees. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, fuselage, and empennage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks contained no usable fuel and the gascolator contained about a tablespoon of fuel. There was no evidence of fuel blight at the accident site. After the accident, the pilot stated that he did not sump the fuel tanks and should have checked the fuel level before the flight. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_CEN25LA080.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