NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CHI94LA090
Registry · N66ND
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-18-150
Year of manufacture
1989 · 5 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19910208
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A8B310
Registrant of record
MILLER AIRCRAFT SERVICES INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FUEL STARVATION DUE TO THE IMPROPER POSITIONING OF THE FUEL TANK SELECTOR BY THE STUDENT PILOT.
Factual narrative
On February 21, 1994, a Piper PA-18-150, N66ND, operated by the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, sustained substantial damage when airplane had a loss of engine power and the pilot landed short of the runway at the Grand Forks International Airport. Neither the instructor pilot nor the pilot-rated student were injured. The instructional flight originated at the Grand Forks Airport at 0845. No flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. The instructor and student were doing pattern work. The instructor asked the student to switch fuel tanks from right to left. The student reported he "...didn't look and check the fuel selector position." He inadvertently switched the fuel selector to OFF. The instructor landed the airplane about 50 yards short of the runway. The wheels dug into the snow during landing roll, and the airplane nosed-over. The instructor and pilot rated student were practicing pattern work. The instructor asked the student to switch the fuel selector from the right tank to the left tank. The student moved the selector but did not look at it. He inadvertently selected the OFF position. The engine quit, and could not be restarted. The instructor landed the airplane about 50 yards short of the runway. The main landing gear wheels dug into the snow during landing roll, and the airplane nosed-over. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_CHI94LA090.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 (icing, 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.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗