Event ERA15LA342

Factual narrative

On September 5, 2015, about 1330 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N6141Q, force landed following a total loss of engine power during a practice instrument approach to Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida. The private pilot and a pilot-rated passenger were not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was operated by Dean International, Inc. under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Day, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The local flight originated at TMB about 1110. The private pilot, who was seated in the left, cockpit seat, reported the following. He checked the aircraft fuel state by looking at the cockpit quantity indicators and by looking into the tanks. After completing the other preflight tasks, he entered the local pattern for practice instrument approaches. While established on radar vectors for a fourth approach, at 1,500 feet above mean sea level and on a westerly heading, he observed engine "roughness" followed by a loss of rpm. He attempted a forced landing on a road; however, he elected to land in a muddy area within the boundary of the Everglades National Park instead. After the airplane came to rest, the pilots secured the airplane and first responders arrived at the accident scene. An inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration responded to the accident site and examined the wreckage. The wreckage was located within the confines of the Everglades National Park, in a grass area. No evidence of fuel or oil leaks was observed around the wreckage. Both wing fuel tanks were intact and unbreached. The fuselage and engine firewall sustained structural damage from impact forces. The nose wheel and propeller were broken off due to impact forces. The inspector returned the next day and drained the fuel tanks with the assistance of the operator's maintenance personnel. The right wing tank contained no fuel. The left wing tank was drained and its contents were placed in a 5-gallon container; it was later quantified at 0.45 gallon. Once the wreckage was recovered from the accident site, the inspector completed his examination of the engine and found no evidence of an anomaly or failure. The operator reported that the airplane was last refueled on September 4th, the day prior to the accident; it was then flown an additional 2.2 hours that day. The accrued time on the airplane during the accident flight was about 2.4 hours; therefore, a total of 4.6 hours accrued since the last refueling before the accident. The capacity of the airplane fuel tanks was 26 gallons, including 24.5 gallons of useable fuel. According to the performance chart for the Cessna 152 (cruise at 2,000 feet pressure altitude, 2,400 rpm, standard temperature, and 101 knots true airspeed) fuel consumption was about 6.1 gallons per hour. The private pilot reported that, before taking off to practice instrument approaches in the local traffic pattern, he checked the airplane's fuel status by looking at the cockpit quantity indicators and looking into the fuel tanks. After conducting three touch-and-go instrument landing system landings, the pilot was attempting a GPS landing. While established on radar vectors for an instrument approach and at 1,500 ft mean sea level, he observed engine "roughness," followed by a loss of power. He attempted a forced landing on a road; however, he subsequently chose to land in a muddy area within the boundary of a national park instead. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel system was undamaged, and there was no evidence of fuel leakage at the scene. The fuel tanks were drained, and 0.45 gallon of fuel was recovered from the left tank, and no fuel was found in the right tank. The operator reported that, at the time of the accident, the airplane had been flown for about 4.6 hours since its last refueling. The airplane had a usable fuel capacity of 24.5 gallons, and its fuel consumption rate in cruise flight was about 6.1 gallons per hour; therefore, the usable fuel would have been consumed during the accident flight.   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
• C Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot - C