NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA91LA116
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO REFUEL THE FUEL TANKS BEFORE DEPARTURE.
Factual narrative
WHILE ON A 3 MILE FINAL OVER A LAKE FOR A STRAIGHT-IN APCH, THE ENG QUIT DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. THE PLT THEN DITCHED THE ACFT & SWAM TO SHORE. THE ACFT WAS RECOVERED & THE FUEL TANKS WERE DRAINED WHICH REVEALED THAT THEY CONTAINED APRX 2.5-3 GALLONS OF FUEL. ACCORDING TO THE ACFT TYPE CERTIFICATE DATA, THE UNUSABLE FUEL QUANTITY IS 3.5 GALLONS. THE ENG WAS RUN THE FOLLOWING DAY WITH NO FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION NOTED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1991_MIA91LA116.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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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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