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Atlas / NTSB / GAA17CA542

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA17CA542

2017-08-30 Wasilla, Alaska, United States Airport · IYS None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2996S

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 150G

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-200 SERIES (100 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19670616

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A31A24

Registrant of record

KINGDOM AIR CORP

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot’s inadequate in-flight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion, the subsequent total loss of engine power, and a forced off-airport landing.

Factual narrative

The solo student pilot reported that on a cross country flight she diverted to a closer airport because the airplane was low on fuel. She added that she executed a go-around after a high approach, but when she advanced the throttle forward, the engine experienced a total loss of engine power. She landed the airplane straight ahead in brush. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. A postaccident examination revealed that the airplane had less than the 3.5 unusable gallons of fuel. The student pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The solo student pilot reported that, on a cross-country flight, she diverted to a closer airport because the airplane was low on fuel. She added that she executed a go-around after a high approach, but when she advanced the throttle forward, the engine experienced a total loss of engine power. She then landed the airplane straight ahead in brush. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. Postaccident examination revealed that the airplane had less than the 3.5 unusable gallons of fuel. The student pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Student/instructed pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA17CA542.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion, go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗