NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA11CA166
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the helicopter stated that the fuel gauge indicated "one-eighth to one-quarter" full on takeoff. At an altitude of approximately 200 feet, the low fuel pressure light illuminated, followed by a total loss of engine power. The pilot performed a 180-degree autorotation to a parking lot, and the helicopter landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the left skid and tail boom. During postaccident examination, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector drained approximately 3 ounces of fuel from the gascolator. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the helicopter, and that he "ran it out of fuel" by "trusting the gauge." The pilot stated that the fuel gauge indicated one-eighth to one-quarter full on takeoff. At an altitude of approximately 200 feet, the low fuel pressure light illuminated, followed by a total loss of engine power. The pilot performed a 180-degree autorotation to a parking lot, and the helicopter landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the left skid and tail boom. During a postaccident examination, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector drained approximately 3 ounces of fuel from the gascolator. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the helicopter, and that he ran it out of fuel by trusting the gauge. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2011_ERA11CA166.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- 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),…
- 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…
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Parachuting to Safety
NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system …
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗