NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC94LA168
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate preflight planning and inaccurate fuel consumption calculations, resulting in fuel starvation and engine failure, and the subsequent collision with trees during a forced landing. A factor related to the accident was the turbulent air conditions during the approach.
Factual narrative
On Sunday, September 4, 1994, at 1415 eastern daylight time, a Beech C35, N5291C, registered to and piloted by John M. Miller, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing near the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot stated that he preflighted the airplane prior to the flight, including a visual check of the fuel supply. He estimated the fuel load at 12 gallons, which he determined was sufficient fuel for the 15 minute flight. The pilot was performing a visual landing to runway 36, when "the engine suddenly slowed down and stopped." He initiated a forced landing, and the airplane impacted trees in a densely wooded area, shearing off the right wing. The airplane came to rest inverted. In his report, the pilot stated, "the air was quite rough during the turn and approach....the trouble was probably caused by the rough air sloshing the fuel in the left tank, causing slugs of air to enter the fuel line to the fuel pump...It would have been more prudent to have topped off the left tank before takeoff." THE PILOT PREFLIGHTED THE AIRPLANE AND DETERMINED THAT THERE WAS ABOUT 12 GALLONS OF FUEL ON BOARD. HIS DESTINATION WAS 12 MILES FROM THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT, AND THE ESTIMATED EN ROUTE TIME WAS 15 MINUTES. THE PILOT DECIDED TO NOT REFUEL THE AIRPLANE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. THE PILOT ENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN AND ESTABLISHED A VFR FINAL APPROACH TO LAND ON RUNWAY 36. HE REPORTED THE 'AIR WAS QUITE ROUGH,' AND THE ENGINE 'SUDDENLY SLOWED DOWN AND STOPPED.' THE AIRPLANE'S ALTITUDE WAS TOO LOW TO ATTEMPT A RESTART, OR REACH THE RUNWAY; THEREFORE, THE PILOT WAS FORCED TO LAND THE AIRPLANE IN THE TREES. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, 'THE TROUBLE WAS PROBABLY CAUSED BY THE ROUGH AIR SLOSHING THE FUEL IN THE LEFT TANK, CAUSING SLUGS OF AIR TO ENTER THE FUEL LINE TO THE FUEL PUMP.' Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_NYC94LA168.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel starvation, engine failure). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Multi-level Adaptation for Automatic Landing with Engine Failure under Turbulent Weather
This paper addresses efficient feasibility evaluation of possible emergency landing sites, online navigation, and path following for automatic landing under engine-out failure subject to turbulent wea…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Simulation of Liquid Rocket Engine Failure Propagation Using Self-Evolving Scenarios
Traditional probabilistic risk assessment approaches often require failure scenarios to be explicitly defined through event sequences that are then quantified as part of the integrated analysis.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techiques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techniques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
A simulator investigation of engine failure compensation for powered-lift STOL aircraft
A piloted simulator investigation of various engine failure compensation concepts for powered-lift STOL aircraft was carried out at the Ames Research Center.
- Semantic Scholar 2019 · Article (AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum)
Impact of Engine Failure Constraints on the Initial Sizing of Hybrid-Electric GA Aircraft
Potential advantages of hybrid-electric aircraft are fuel savings, lower emissions, and reduced noise. Since these aircraft generally apply multiple power sources, they can also be designed to sustain…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗