NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR23LA320
Registry · N3282L
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 172H
Year of manufacture
1967 · 56 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR 0-300 SER (145 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19670519
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A38EB1
Registrant of record
FRANCO DAVID F JR
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s inadequate fuel management which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported the airplane recently had an engine upgrade and he was flying it to break in the engine. He had performed fuel calculations based on its previously consumption rate and did not realize the new engine was consuming more fuel than planned. During final approach the airplane experienced a total loss of power due to fuel exhaustion. The pilot performed a forced landing on an open field with high vegetation, substantially damaging the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures 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-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Flight planning/navigation-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2023_WPR23LA320.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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.
- AOPA Air Safety Institute 2023 · Safety advisor
Safety Advisor: Fuel Awareness
AOPA Air Safety Institute safety advisor on preventing fuel-exhaustion and fuel-starvation accidents in general aviation. Covers pre-flight fuel planning, reserve requirements (14 CFR 91.151, 91.167),…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents, 1963 through 1997
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recorded 8,436 rotorcraft accidents during the period mid - 1963 through the end of 1997.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
A study of carburetor/induction system icing in general aviation accidents
An assessment of the frequency and severity of carburetor/induction icing in general-aviation accidents was performed. The available literature and accident data from the National Transportation Safet…
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
Parachuting to Safety
NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system …
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗