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SEA91LA239

1991-09-16 · HILLSBORO, Oregon, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HIO

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADEQUATE FUEL SUPPLY AND FUEL EXHAUSTION.

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT PILOT REFUELED AT HIS FIRST STOP ON A CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT, RATHER THAN AT THE SECOND STOP AS RECOMMENDED BY HIS FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR. AS HE WAS APPROACHING TO LAND AT HIS FINAL DESTINATION, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN TREES ABOUT ONE HALF MILE FROM THE ACTIVE RUNWAY. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT LESS THAN ONE GALLON OF FUEL WAS REMAINING IN EACH OF THE TWO WING TANKS. UNUSABLE FUEL FOR THIS AIRCRAFT WAS 3.5 GALLONS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_SEA91LA239.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