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SEA92LA087 · Cessna T210L

1 May 1992 · Prineville, OR, United States

Cessna T210L · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Field (BOI) to Portland International Airport (PDX)

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Event

NTSB case
SEA92LA087
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 T210L

Aircraft type
Cessna 210
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
N5469V
Operator
Patrick, Scott W. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Field (BOI), Boise, IDTo Portland International Airport (PDX), Portland, OR
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 · descent
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)
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

  • Landing gear, nose gear strut › Overload
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, delayed

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

NTSB narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS TOPPED OFF TO 540 POUNDS OF FUEL AT A TACH TIME OF 3908.8 HOURS AND SUBSEQUENTLY FLOWN TO A TACH TIME OF 3911.4 HOURS. THE AIRCRAFT WAS NOT FUELED AND SUBSEQUENTLY DEPARTED FOR PORTLAND RETURNING TO BOISE AFTER A TACH TIME OF 0.4 HOURS DUE TO THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR'S FAILURE TO RETRACT. THE PIC THEN OPTED TO DEPART AND FLY NONSTOP TO PORTLAND WITH THE GEAR FULLY EXTENDED. THE AIRCRAFT WAS NOT FUELED SUBSEQUENT TO THE 0.4 HOUR FLIGHT. THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED A SECOND TIME FOR PORTLAND AT 1808 HOURS PDT AND LATER REPORTED CONSUMING 110 POUNDS/HOUR OF FUEL. AT 1936 HOURS, AND AFTER DISCUSSING AVAILABLE FUELING FACILITIES WITH REDMOND FSS, THE PIC DIVERTED FROM HIS ROUTE OF FLIGHT TOWARDS REDMOND FOR FUEL. AT APPROXIMATELY 1950 HOURS THE PILOT RADIOED TO REDMOND FSS THAT HE HAD RUN OUT OF FUEL AND WAS EXECUTING A FORCED LANDING. DUSK LIGHT CONDITIONS EXISTED DURING THE FORCED LANDING AND THE PIC DID NOT SEE THE CANAL AND DIRT BANK IN HIS LANDING PATH UNTIL AFTER HE WAS COMMITTED TO THE LANDING SITE. DURING THE LANDING ROLL THE NOSE GEAR STRUCK THE DIRT BANK AND SEPARATED AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER. THE TACH TIME AT THE ACCIDENT SITE WAS 3913.6 HOURS.

Probable cause

THE PILOT IN COMMAND DELAYING HIS DECISION TO DIVERT FOR FUEL, OVERLOADING OF THE NOSE GEAR STRUT AND THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S INABILITY TO MAINTAIN AIRCRAFT CONTROL SUBSEQUENT TO THE NOSE WHEEL SEPARATION. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S OPERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH THE GEAR EXTENDED, HIS MISJUDGMENT OF THE FUEL SUPPLY, DUSK LIGHT CONDITIONS DURING THE FORCED LANDING, AND THE DIRT BANK.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA92LA087
Event ID
20001211X14721
Case number
SEA92LA087
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 1992-05-02.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 3cc87db8e8b46b7772592d1d6c5d7f4a9109c6df4fbf171b077a9fdfb505b64a; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:17:49.207Z.