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NYC89LA038

1988-11-23 · BERLIN, New Jersey, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 19N

N4341T has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV-6, built 1998), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

OFF AIRPORT LANDING IN UNSUITABLE TERRAIN FOLLOWING A POWER LOSS DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION IN THE SELECTED TANK WITH USEABLE FUEL IN THE OTHER TANK.

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT LOST POWER AFTER TAKEOFF AND THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT. HE STRUCK POWER LINES ON SHORT FINAL AND LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT, STRIKING A RAILROAD EMBANKMENT. A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR WHO WAS ON SCENE APPROXIMATELY A MINUTE AFTER THE ACCIDENT SAID THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS ON AN EMPTY TANK AND USEABLE FUEL WAS IN THE OTHER TANK. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_NYC89LA038.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). All research papers