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LAX93LA037 · Cessna TU206G

13 Nov 1992 · RUBY, AZ, United States

Cessna TU206G · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering

From Unalakleet Airport (UNK) to Unalakleet Airport (UNK)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX93LA037
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
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 TU206G

Aircraft type
Cessna 206
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
XBBRI
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Unalakleet Airport (UNK), DurangoTo Unalakleet Airport (UNK), Nogales
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
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
  • Fuel supply › Inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inaccurate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Ruby, AZ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE MEXICAN REGISTERED AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH HILLY TERRAIN WHILE MANEUVERING FOR A PRESUMED LANDING FOLLOWING FUEL EXHAUSTION IN A REMOTE DESERT AREA NEAR THE MEXICO AND US BORDER. POST CRASH EXAMINATION OF THE FUEL SYSTEM REVEALED THAT IT WAS INTACT AND ONLY ABOUT FIVE OUNCES OF FUEL WERE FOUND IN THE TOTAL SYSTEM. THE FUEL SYSTEM HAD BEEN MODIFIED WITH THE ADDITION OF NON STANDARD LONG RANGE BLADDER TANKS IN THE WINGS. ACCORDING TO INFORMATION FROM THE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, US CUSTOMS AND THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, THE AIRCRAFT REPORTEDLY DEPARTED DURANGO, MEXICO, AT AN UNKNOWN TIME WITH A PRESUMED DESTINATION OF NOGALES, MEXICO (17 MILES SOUTH OF THE CRASH SITE). US CUSTOMS AND DEA REPORTED THAT THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED THE UNITED STATES AT LOW ALTITUDE WITHOUT A FLIGHT PLAN OR ENTRY DECLARATION. THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED BY GROUND WITNESSES FLYING LOW IN THE GULLIES AND VALLEYS OF THE HILLY DESERT TERRAIN, THEN THEY HEARD THE ENGINE SPUTTER AND STOP. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH THE SLOPE OF A HILL SIDE IN A GULLY WITH FLAPS IN A LANDING CONFIGURATION.

Probable cause

FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO INACCURATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX93LA037
Event ID
20001211X16064
Case number
LAX93LA037
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: 75bcd5dadc2e5c9999e7b7f2bc295a0f6f5825418b351f11680090ae3476752a; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:49:30.908Z.