NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR25LA184
Registry · N2680Y
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 180E
Year of manufacture
1962 · 63 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR O-470 SERIES (230 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19620914
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A29F24
Registrant of record
REID BRIAN M
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate preflight inspection, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and a subsequent landing on rough terrain.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that about 30 minutes from the destination airport the engine lost all power. The pilot conducted a forced landing to a rough field, during which the left main landing gear collapsed, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks contained no usable fuel. The pilot stated that during his preflight inspection, he did not visually verify the fuel levels in the fuel tanks and relied on the fuel analyzer. 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-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot
- — Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid level
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Rough terrain-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2025_WPR25LA184.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 ↗