NYC95LA179 · Bellanca 7GCBC
United Aerial Advertising Bellanca 7GCBC · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From 4NY7 · East Moriches, NY to Muñoz Landing Airstrip (BLM)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC95LA179
- 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
Bellanca 7GCBC
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 7
- 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
- N8610V
- Operator
- United Aerial Advertising
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From 4NY7 · East Moriches, NYTo Muñoz Landing Airstrip (BLM)
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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; Tree(s)
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, inaccurate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT HAD BEEN CONDUCTING A BANNER TOWING FLIGHT, AND WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF FUEL REMAINING; HOWEVER, THE PILOT DECIDED TO CONTINUE THE FLIGHT. UPON COMPLETION OF THE BANNER TOWING OPERATIONS, THE PILOT RETURNED TO ALLAIRE AIRPORT, DROPPED THE BANNER AND APPLIED POWER TO GO-AROUND FOR LANDING AND LOST TOTAL ENGINE POWER. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES DURING THE FORCED LANDING. POSTACCIDENT EXAMINATION BY AN FAA INSPECTOR REVEALED NO DISCREPANCIES WITH THE AIRFRAME OR ENGINE. ADDITIONALLY, THREE QUARTS OF FUEL WERE DRAINED FROM THE ENTIRE FUEL SYSTEM.
Probable cause
the pilot's improper inflight decision and inaccurate fuel consumption calculations, resulting in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion and a forced landing over unsuitable terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC95LA179
- Event ID
- 20001207X04077
- Case number
- NYC95LA179
- 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: 45baa8e5b1e3ef1979275520e9e41419ae41cfd8a59026a7136d23d4b0f38e17; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:07:40.234Z.