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WPR21LA022

2020-10-23 · El Cajon, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Current FAA registration · N98615

Make / Model
PIPER J3C-65
Year of manufacture
1946 · 74 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR A&C65 SERIES (65 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19590507
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ADC407

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and fuel planning which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the preflight he checked the fuel sight gauges and he believed that both fuel tanks were full. After flying for about an hour, he returned to the airport for a straight in approach and noticed that the fuel might be near exhaustion since he could not see the float at the bottom of the sight glass. While on a 2-mile final approach, the engine lost power. The pilot subsequently initiated a forced landing to an unoccupied school playground. During the landing roll, the pilot intentionally ground looped the airplane to prevent hitting a chain link fence, however, the right wing collided with the fence and was substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failure or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Flight planning/navigation-Pilot
  • — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_WPR21LA022.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.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel exhaustion). All research papers