DFW06CA214
2006-09-23 · Big Spring, Texas, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport KBPG
Current FAA registration · N23260
- Make / Model
- AIR TRACTOR INC AT-301
- Year of manufacture
- 1981 · 25 years old at event
- Engine
- P&W R1340 SERIES (600 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 1 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19810618
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A21331
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as result of the pilot's failure to refuel the airplane. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Factual narrative
The 9,000-hour commercial pilot departed from a private airstrip on an aerial application flight. The pilot reported that just prior to reaching his destination, the fuel pressure light came on and the 600 horsepower radial engine lost power. The pilot elected to execute a forced landing to a field on a southern heading. The airplane sustained structural damage upon contact with trees during the forced landing. Examination of the airplane revealed that the loss of fuel pressure was the result of fuel exhaustion. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident, scattered clouds prevailed at 6,000 and the winds were from 360 degrees at 8 knots. The airplane sustained structural damage upon impact with the trees. The pilot was not injured. The 9,000-hour commercial pilot departed from a private airstrip on an aerial application flight. The pilot reported that just prior to reaching his destination, the fuel pressure light came on and the 600 horsepower radial engine lost power. The pilot elected to execute a forced landing to a field on a southern heading. The airplane sustained structural damage upon contact with trees during the forced landing. Examination of the airplane revealed that the loss of fuel pressure was the result of fuel exhaustion. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident scattered clouds prevailed at 6,000 and the winds were from 360 degrees at 8 knots. The airplane sustained structural damage upon impact with the trees. The pilot was not injured. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2006_DFW06CA214.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.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). All research papers
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Large-eddy simulations of the NACA23012 airfoil with laser-scanned ice shapes
In this study, five ice shapes generated at NASA Glenn's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) are simulated at multiple angles of attack (Broeren et al., J. of Aircraft, 2018).
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint LES of Droplet Impingement: Application to Clean and Laser-Scanned Ice Shapes
The prediction of aircraft icing is conventionally performed using multishot simulation frameworks that fail to predict the progressive roughening of the ice surface.
- 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),…
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article (Supportive Care in Cancer) The role of the gut microbiome in cancer-related fatigue: pilot study on epigenetic mechanisms
Recent evidence supports a key role of gut microbiome in brain health. We conducted a pilot study to assess associations of gut microbiome with cancer-related fatigue and explore the associations with…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 through 1997
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recorded 8,436 rotorcraft accidents during the period mid - 1963 through the end of 1997.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR) A study of carburetor/induction system icing in general aviation accidents
An assessment of the frequency and severity of carburetor/induction icing in general-aviation accidents was performed. The available literature and accident data from the National Transportation Safet…