NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC89LA196
Registry · N239
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
RYAN AERONAUTICAL ST3KR
Year of manufacture
1943 · 46 years old at event
Engine
KINNER R5 SERIES (160 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19530423
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A229EE
Registrant of record
GERTSEN RONALD HANS
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT BY THE PILOT AND HIS MISJUDGEMENT OF THE FUEL SUPPLY, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. THE DITCH WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Factual narrative
THE AIRLINE TRANSPORT RATED PILOT HAD WAITED OVER 1 HOUR FOR FUEL AND DECIDED HE HAD ENOUGH FUEL TO GET FROM TOWANDA, PA TO SEAMANS AIRPORT, PA, SO HE DID NOT REFUEL. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ENGINE LOST POWER AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS LANDED IN A FIELD 1-1/2 TO 2 MILES FROM THE DESTINATION AIRPORT. DURING LANDING, THE AIRCRAFT HIT A DITCH & FLIPPED OVERON ITS BACK. AN ON-SITE INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO FUEL WAS REMAINING. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_NYC89LA196.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 …
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗