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Atlas / NTSB / WPR23LA267

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR23LA267

2023-07-08 Coquille Bay, Oregon, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N9507D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-22-160

Year of manufacture

1958 · 65 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19581020

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AD37F8

Registrant of record

KIMBALL RAYMOND E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation, a total loss of engine power, and impact with terrain.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the airplane reported that, after completing a preflight inspection of the airplane he departed for a local flight. While enroute, at about 1500 above ground level (agl), the right tank ran out of fuel and the “engine cut out.” As he was switching tanks, the airplane impacted terrain and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and forward fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. 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).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_WPR23LA267.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (fuel starvation). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗