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Empire Airlines Flight 7551

11 Jan 1995 · Flagstaff, AZ, United States

Cessna 208B · Accident during initial climb

From Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG) to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX95FA076
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
1 · 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
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Cessna 208B

Aircraft type
Cessna 208
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
N746FE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG)To Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZ
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Initial climb
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
Miscellaneous/other
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Altitude, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, not corrected

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

A WITNESS LOCATED NEAR THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY SAW THE AIRPLANE INITIALLY CLIMB IN A NORMAL MANNER, THEN STAY BELOW THE CLOUDS AND MAKE A SHALLOW BANK 180-DEGREE LEFT TURN AND DESCEND BELOW A TREE LINE. TOWER TAPES REVEALED THAT THE PILOT TWICE TRANSMITTED THAT HE WAS "COMING BACK" TO THE AIRPORT DURING WHICH THE BACKGROUND SOUND OF THE "FUEL SELECTOR OFF" WARNING HORN WAS HEARD. THE PILOT THEN INFORMED THE CONTROLLER "I'VE GOT TO GET BACK", AND NO WARNING HORN WAS HEARD. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES AND CAME TO REST ABOUT 6,500 FEET SSE OF THE RUNWAY'S END. PRIOR TO DEPARTURE, THE AIRPLANE WAS REFUELED WITH 40 GALS OF JET A (20 GALS PER TANK), WHICH INCREASED THE TOTAL FUEL LOAD TO 148 GALS. THE FLIGHT MANUAL REQUIRED THAT THE FUEL BALANCE BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT TANKS BE KEPT WITHIN 200 POUNDS, AND SUGGESTED TURNING OFF ONE FUEL SELECTOR TO CORRECT UNBALANCE SITUATIONS. THE CONDITION OF ONE FUEL SELECTOR TURNED OFF WILL CAUSE THE "FUEL SELECTOR OFF" WARNING HORN TO SOUND. EXAM OF THE AIRCRAFT REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF PREIMPACT FAILURES. PROP BLADE BUTT SIGNATURES INDICATED IT WAS OPERATING IN THE GOVERNING RANGE, AND ENGINE POWER WAS BEING PRODUCED AT IMPACT.

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to properly configure the aircraft fuel system prior to takeoff, and his failure maintain an adequate terrain clearance altitude while maneuvering to return to the airport. Factors in the accident were the dark night lighting conditions, low ceilings, restricted visibility conditions, and the pilot's diverted attention which resulted from activation of the airplane's fuel selector warning horn system.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX95FA076
Event ID
20001207X02873
Case number
LAX95FA076
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-01-12.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: ed50be9dfbdd5612dfdcf8ad2292d49c742e4b382da934284b943794519552db; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:45:01.017Z.