NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW91LA126
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FUEL LEAKAGE FROM THE FUEL DRAIN VALVE. A FACTOR WAS THE INACCESSIBILITY OF SUITABLE TERRAIN FOR FORED LANDING.
Factual narrative
A COMMERCIAL HELICOPTER PILOT WAS MANEUVERING HIS AERIAL BURNING EQUIPPED HELICOPTER FOR THE PURPOSE OF BURNING 15 ACRES OF TIMBER. FUEL LEVEL WAS MEASURED TO BE JUST OVER 11 GALLONS OF FUEL REMAINING TO COMPLETE THE 20-30 MINUTE JOB. BASED ON THE FUEL CONSUMPTION OF 13 TO 15 GALLONS PER HOUR, THE AIRCRAFT HAD 40 TO 50 MINUTES OF FUEL REMAINING PRIOR TO DEPARTING. THE ENGINE QUIT 15 MINUTES AFTER DEPARTURE DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. FUEL HAD DRAINED OUT OF THE FUEL CELL SUMP DRAIN VALVE DUE TO FAILURE OR PREMATURE DETERIORATION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1991_FTW91LA126.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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