SEA07CA100
2007-04-20 · Levelland, Texas, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport LLN
N3523J has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AEROPRAKT MANUFACTURING SP ZOO A22LS, built 2020), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate in-flight decision by failing to refuel while en route, resulting in fuel exhaustion and the loss of power. A factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that on the return leg of the cross-country instructional flight at 5,500 feet mean sea level and 10 nautical miles from her destination airport, the engine lost power. The pilot reported that she then made a forced landing to a plowed field. A Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector, who traveled to the accident site, reported that when both of the airplane's wing tanks were inspected for fuel, less than one gallon of fuel was drained from each tank. The inspector stated that the firewall and engine mount had sustained substantial damage, the nose landing gear had separated, and that both main landing gear structures were bent aft. The inspector also revealed that the pilot had landed across the rows of the plowed field. The pilot stated that on the return leg of the cross-country instructional flight at 5,500 feet mean sea level and 10 nautical miles from her destination airport, the engine lost power. The pilot reported that she then made a forced landing to a plowed field. A Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector, who traveled to the accident site, reported that when both of the airplane's wing tanks were inspected for fuel, less than one gallon of fuel was drained from each tank. The inspector stated that the firewall and engine mount had sustained substantial damage, the nose landing gear had separated, and that both main landing gear structures were bent aft. The inspector also revealed that the pilot had landed across the rows of the plowed field. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2007_SEA07CA100.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). All research papers
- 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 …