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FTW89LA116

1989-06-24 · ADDISON, Texas, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ADS

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE SOLO STUDENT PILOT AND INADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY THE STUDENT'S INSTRUCTOR PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO AN INADEQUATE SUPPLY OF FUEL. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF OPERATION.

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT PILOT DEPARTED THE HOME AIRPORT WITH FULL FUEL AT APRX 0815 CDT. AN ABORTED LANDING & A TOUGH-&-GO WERE PERFORMED AT AN INTERMEDIATE AIRPORT BEFORE LANDING AT ABOUT 1045 CDT. THE PILOT DEPARTED ON THE RETURN FLIGHT AT ABOUT 1115 & CRASHED LANDED ABOUT 5 MI SHORT OF THE AIRPORT. THE HOBBS METER RECORDS INDICATED THAT THE AIRCRAFT HAD FLOWN 3.8 HRS ON THE TRIP. NO FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE WING TANKS OR IN THE AREA OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE EMERGENCLY LANDING OCCURRED ON ROUGH TERRAIN. DURING THE LANDING, THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED & THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER. AN FAA COORDINATOR REPORTED THAT THE STUDENT PILOT'S INSTRUCTOR WAS RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED AND DID NOT CONDUCT A THOROUGH ENOUGH EVALUATION OF THE STUDENT'S FLIGHT PLANNING BEFORE AUTHORIZING THE TRIP. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_FTW89LA116.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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