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DEN91LA045

1991-02-15 · GUYMON, Oklahoma, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GUY

Current FAA registration · N3549W

Make / Model
PIPER J3C-65
Year of manufacture
1941 · 50 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR C85 SERIES (85 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19990820
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A3F751

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FUEL STARVATION FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS, AND THE PILOT'S DELAY IN FLARING THE AIRPLANE. A FACTOR WAS: THE PILOT'S TOTAL LACK OF EXPERIENCE.

Factual narrative

THE 55 HOUR STUDENT PILOT PREFLIGHTED THE AIRPLANE AND NOTED FUEL IN BOTH TANKS, THE RIGHT TANK CONTAINING '15 TO 16 GALLONS.' HE TOOK OFF TO PRACTICE DOWNWIND LEG, THE ENGINE 'COUGHED' AND LOST POWER. THE PILOT SAID HE SWITCHED THE FUEL SELECTOR FROM THE RIGHT TANK TO THE LEFT TANK. THE ENGINE REGAINED POWER MOMENTARILY, THEN QUIT AGAIN. THE PILOT DID NOT RECALL THE IMPACT, BUT WITNESSES SAID THE AIRPLANE NOSED INTO THE GROUND. POSTACCIDENT EXAMINATION DISCLOSED 'A MEASURABLE AMOUNT OF FUEL' IN BOTH TANKS, BUT NO FUEL IN THE CARBURETOR BOWL OR FUEL PUMP. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_DEN91LA045.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel starvation). All research papers