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SEA92LA081

1992-04-17 · BROADUS, Montana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Current FAA registration · N35931

Make / Model
PIPER J5A
Year of manufacture
1941 · 51 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR A&C75 SERIES (75 hp)
Seats / Engines
3 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19750623
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A40917

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FUEL SYSTEM EXHAUSTION. FACTORS INCLUDE AN INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT, INADVERTENT FUEL DUMPING, AND A DITCH IN THE LANDING AREA.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT OF THE PIPER J-5 HAD JUST PURCHASED THE AIRCRAFT AND WAS RETURNING TO HIS HOME AIRPORT WHEN THE AIRCRAFT RAN OUT OF FUEL. DURING THE ENSUING EMERGENCY LANDING THE AIRCRAFT HIT A DITCH AND NOSED OVER. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN BURNING ABOUT EIGHT GALLONS OF FUEL PER HOUR. THE AIRCRAFT, WHICH HAD BEEN AIRBORNE APPROXIMATELY THREE AND ONE HALF HOURS, SHOULD HAVE HAD AN ENDURANCE OF OVER FOUR HOURS AT CRUISE. AFTER THE ACCIDENT IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE LEFT FUEL TANK CAP HAD BEEN PUT ON WITH THE PRESSURIZATION TUBE FACING AFT INSTEAD OF FORWARD INTO THE SLIPSTREAM. BOTH THE PILOT AND THE FAA INSPECTOR WHO RESPONDED TO THE ACCIDENT FELT THAT THE BACKWARDS CAP HAD SIPHONED OFF SOME OF THE FUEL, LEADING TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF AN ENGINE MALFUNCTION OR OTHER SOURCE OF FUEL LEAKAGE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_SEA92LA081.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