NTSB ERA25LA264 — 2025-07-11 · St. Augustine, Florida, United States

Current FAA registration · N8503G

Make / Model: CESSNA 150F
Year of manufacture: 1965 · 60 years old at event
Engine: CONT MOTOR 0-200 SERIES (100 hp)
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 19651220
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S ABAA20

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N8503G Cessna 150 None

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated that he had just purchased the airplane and was flying it home on a long cross-country flight, with a planned fuel stop. During the flight, he experienced higher than planned headwinds and was rerouted for weather. He added that he did not calculate the additional fuel usage for the flight that was over 3.5 hours. During the approach to the planned fuel-stop airport, on short final for the runway, the engine lost all power. The pilot performed a forced landing on railroad tracks, resulting in substantial damage to both wings, the nose landing gear, and firewall. Examination by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed both fuel tanks were empty. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot
— Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_ERA25LA264.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 exhaustion). All research papers