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Air Nevada Airlines Cessna T207A accident

16 Mar 1991 · Las Vegas, NV, United States

Cessna T207A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

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Event

NTSB case
LAX91LA136
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
Charter & commuter
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 T207A

Aircraft type
Cessna 207
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
N75841
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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
Approach
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
  • Fuel system, cap › Loose
  • Fuel system, tank › Siphoning
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inaccurate

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

NTSB narrative

THE FLIGHT WAS ON A FOUR MILE FINAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 1 LEFT WHEN THE ENGINE QUIT. THE AIRCRAFT MADE A SUCCESSFUL TOUCHDOWN ON A CITY STREET AND COLLIDED WITH SEVERAL STREET SIGN POSTS DURING THE LANDING ROLL. INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT CONFIRMED THAT NO FUEL WAS PRESENT IN EITHER FUEL TANK. THE PILOT SAID THAT HE USED A DIPSTICK ON THE FUEL TANKS PRIOR TO DEPARTURE AND ASCERTAINED THAT EACH OF THE TWO TANKS CONTAINED AT LEAST 21 GALLONS OF FUEL. DURING THE FLIGHT ONE PASSENGER COMPLAINED TO THE PILOT THAT SHE COULD SMELL A FUEL ODOR. THE PILOT SAID HE LOOKED AT BOTH WINGS FOR EVIDENCE OF FUEL LEAKAGE, HOWEVER SAW NONE. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THE PILOT INSPECTED THE FUEL FILLER CAPS FOR SECURITY. HE FOUND THAT THE RIGHT CAP WAS NOT IN THE FULLY CLOSED POSITION.

Probable cause

FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO FUEL SIPHONING IN FLIGHT FROM AN UNSECURED FILLER CAP. THE INACCURATE PREFLIGHT INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT BY THE PILOT WAS ALSO CAUSAL IN THIS ACCIDENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX91LA136
Event ID
20001212X16634
Case number
LAX91LA136
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: 3161e1e3b4fa8d9778ae18fca8aba8769903a71a9d3f3119ad3c12c3f565a23c; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:56:15.020Z.