NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR10CA224
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
A loss of engine power as a result of fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's improper decision to continue the flight after the low fuel warning. Contributing to the accident was the typographical error in the flight manual concerning the unusable fuel quantity.
Factual narrative
The sport pilot instructor reported that during the student pilot’s first dual instructional flight the engine quit while on a 1.5 mile final to land. The instructor made a forced landing on a dirt road during which the trike nosed over. Post accident examination of the trike revealed 1.2 gallons of fuel remained in the tank, which is at or below the empty markings of the fuel tank. The manufacturer reported that the unusable fuel level is 1.4 gallons. The aircraft was equipped with a fuel monitoring system that activates once the fuel level drops below 2.7 gallons. The pilot told witnesses that he had observed the low fuel warning on the instrument panel. The aircraft flight manual had a typographical error, which stated the unusable fuel was 0.4 gallons. As a result of this accident investigation the manufacturer corrected the error and reissued the corrected page to the aircraft flight manual. The sport instructor pilot reported that during a student pilot’s first dual instructional flight, the engine lost power while on a 1.5 mile final to land. The instructor made a forced landing on a dirt road during which the trike nosed over. Post accident examination of the trike revealed 1.2 gallons of fuel remained in the tank, which is at or below the empty markings of the fuel tank. The manufacturer reported that the unusable fuel level is 1.4 gallons. The aircraft was equipped with a fuel monitoring system that activates once the fuel level drops below 2.7 gallons. The pilot told witnesses that he had observed the low fuel warning on the instrument panel. The aircraft flight manual had a typographical error, which stated the unusable fuel was 0.4 gallons. As a result of this accident investigation the manufacturer corrected the error and reissued the corrected page to the aircraft flight manual. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level - C
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Fuel system-Fuel quantity indicator-Incorrect use/operation - C
- F Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Fuel system-(general)-Related operating info - F
- F Organizational issues-Development-Design-Design of document/info-Manufacturer - F
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2010_WPR10CA224.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 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.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Conference paper
Green Skies Over Akron: “Revolutionizing CAK with a $20M Sustainability Blueprint"
Our groundbreaking research at Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) proposes a transformative $20 million electrical master plan, designed to revolutionize the airport into a sustainable aviation hub and an Adv…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2022 · Conference paper
Industry Panel - Workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Revolution: From Talk to Collective Action
Panelists will discuss initiatives in the workplace, lessons learned, and resources for people and organizations to take action at work and in the community.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Trajectory-Based Optimization for Air Traffic Control in the Terminal Maneuvering Area
We present a trajectory-based optimization framework for arrival sequencing and scheduling in the terminal maneuvering area (TMA).
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Semantic Communications for Vehicle-Based Mission-Critical Services: Challenges and Solutions
As mission-critical (MC) services such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based emergency communication and Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) enabled autonomous driving emerge, the traditional communication…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Anti-Jamming based on Beam-Steering Antennas and Intelligent UAV Swarm Behavior
In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have brought a new true revolution to military tactics. While UAVs already constitute an advantage when operating alone, multi-UAV swarms expand the av…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Integrated Take-off Management and Trajectory Optimization for Merging Control in Urban Air Mobility Corridors
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has the potential to revolutionize daily transportation, offering rapid and efficient aerial mobility services.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗