CHI88LA125
1988-06-05 · ELLSWORTH, Wisconsin, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport NONE
Current FAA registration · N4757F
- Make / Model
- CESSNA P206B
- Year of manufacture
- 1966 · 22 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 6 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19670105
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A5D700
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
DURING CRUISE FLIGHT THE PILOT EXPERIENCED AN ENGINE FAILURE WHICH HE BELIEVED TO BE CAUSED BY FUEL EXHAUSTION, AND EXECUTED A FORCED LANDING IN UNSUITABLE TERRAIN. POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED THAT THE LEFT FUEL TANK CONTAINED 23 GALLONS OF FUEL AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT, ALTHOUGH BOTH FUEL GUAGES READ EMPTY. AFTERWARD THE PILOT SAID THAT HE MAY HAVE LET AIR IN THE FUEL LINES WHEN HE ROCKED THE WINGS IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET THE FUEL GUAGES TO INDICATE SOME FUEL QUANTITY, RESULTING IN FUEL STARVATION INDUCED ENGINE FAILURE. NO PREFLIGHT INSPECTION OF THE FUEL QUANTITY WAS MADE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1988_CHI88LA125.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion, fuel starvation, engine failure). All research papers
- AOPA Air Safety Institute 2023 · Safety advisor Safety Advisor: Fuel Awareness
AOPA Air Safety Institute safety advisor on preventing fuel-exhaustion and fuel-starvation accidents in general aviation. Covers pre-flight fuel planning, reserve requirements (14 CFR 91.151, 91.167),…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint Multi-level Adaptation for Automatic Landing with Engine Failure under Turbulent Weather
This paper addresses efficient feasibility evaluation of possible emergency landing sites, online navigation, and path following for automatic landing under engine-out failure subject to turbulent wea…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Simulation of Liquid Rocket Engine Failure Propagation Using Self-Evolving Scenarios
Traditional probabilistic risk assessment approaches often require failure scenarios to be explicitly defined through event sequences that are then quantified as part of the integrated analysis.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techiques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techniques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM) A simulator investigation of engine failure compensation for powered-lift STOL aircraft
A piloted simulator investigation of various engine failure compensation concepts for powered-lift STOL aircraft was carried out at the Ames Research Center.