NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW89LA157
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
PILOT'S FAILURE TO ACCURATELY CALCULATE THE NECESARY FUEL FOR THE FLIGHT AND ASSURE THAT THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN REFUELED TO PROVIDE THAT QUANTITY.
Factual narrative
THE STUDENT PILOT WAS ON A SOLO CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT FROM GRAND PRAIRIE TO TYLER & RETURN. AFTER INITIALLY DEPARTING GRAND PRAIRIE THE PILOT HAD PROBLEMS OPERATING THE RADIOS & RETURNED. HE AGAIN DEPARTED GRAND PRAIRIE, WITHOUT REFUELING, FOR TYLER. ON THE RETURN TRIP FROM TYLER THE PILOT BECAME LOST, AND THE ENGINE EVENTUALLY QUIT DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE IN A FIELD & THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDE WITH TREES & NOSED INTO A GULLY. THE AIRCRAFT WAS NOT REFUELED AT TYLER. THE AIRCRAFT HAD OPERATED 4.1 HRS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_FTW89LA157.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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 …
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