FTW95LA038 · Cessna 150M
Cessna 150M · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) to Las Cruces International Airport (LRU)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95LA038
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cessna 150M
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6692S
- Operator
- Busick, Robert · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Albuquerque, NMTo Las Cruces International Airport (LRU), Las Cruces, NM
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Fuel exhaustion
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, inaccurate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Radium Springs, NM, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT THE SOLO CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT ORIGINATED IN LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO AT 0731 AND LANDED IN ALBUQUERQUE AT 0902. THE FLIGHT THEN DEPARTED FOR SANTA FE AT 1000 ARRIVING AT 1035. A RETURN FLIGHT TO ALBUQUERQUE WAS INITIATED AT 1105 AND ARRIVED AT 1150. EIGHT GALLONS OF FUEL WERE ADDED PRIOR TO HIS DEPARTURE FOR LAS CRUCES, THE FINAL LEG OF HIS FLIGHT. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, HE 'ESTIMATED A TOTAL FUEL REQUIREMENT OF 25.5 GALLONS' FOR THE FLIGHT. THE 'AIRCRAFT HOLDS 22.5 GALLONS OF USABLE FUEL' SO AN 'ADDITIONAL RIGHT GALLONS OF FUEL (WAS) ADDED FOR A TOTAL OF 30.5 GALLONS, FIVE GALLONS RESERVE EQUIVALENT TO 1.2 HOUR RESERVE.' THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED AlBUQUERQUE AT 1300. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT AT 1510 HE EXPERIENCED A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. HE EXECUTED A FORCED LANDING TO A FIELD AND THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED WHEN IT CROSSED AN 8 INCH DEEP IRRIGATION DITCH. THE PILOT FURTHER STATED THAT THE 'ENGINE QUIT DUE TO THE LACK OF FUEL.'
Probable cause
FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO THE PILOT'S INACCURATE FUEL CONSUMPTION CALCULATIONS. A FACTOR WAS THE LACK OF SUITABLE TERRAIN AVAILABLE FOR THE FORCED LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95LA038
- Event ID
- 20001206X02591
- Case number
- FTW95LA038
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 570bb644ec1b2a376f6087f32970a72550d8191f4b18762daf9275c4aa03ec5f; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:28:19.627Z.