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WPR23LA318

2023-08-05 · Indian Creek, Idaho, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport S81

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's improper fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation, and gear up landing on a dirt airstrip.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the airplane reported that, while enroute, the engine was running rough and the airplane subsequently lost power. His attempts to restore power were unsuccessful. Due to high airspeed and low altitude the pilot elected to land gear up on a dirt airstrip which resulted in substantial damage to the underside of the airplane. Postaccident examination revealed 18 gallons of fuel in the right fuel tank and the left fuel tank was void of fuel; neither fuel tank was breached. The operator of the airplane 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

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Rough terrain-Contributed to outcome
  • — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_WPR23LA318.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 starvation). All research papers