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NYC91LA127 · Cessna 414A

7 May 1991 · Piqua, OH, United States

K.K. Leasing Cessna 414A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

From I65 · Richmond, IN to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
NYC91LA127
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 414A

Aircraft type
Cessna 414
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
N222SV
Operator
K.K. Leasing
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From I65 · Richmond, INTo 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 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
Approach · VFR pattern final
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 starvation
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 › Starvation
  • Fuel system, fuel quantity float/sensor › Incorrect
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
  • Terrain condition › Rough/uneven

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

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT WAS PRACTICING LANDINGS ON HIS FIRST SOLO FLIGHT IN THIS MODEL AIRPLANE. ON FINAL APPROACH, AT APPROXIMATELY 700 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, BOTH ENGINES QUIT. HE LANDED THE AIRPLANE IN A FIELD SHORT OF THE RUNWAY, CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. DURING THE INVESTIGATION, THE PILOT STATED, 'I DID NOT CHECK THE FUEL TANKS VISUALLY.' HE ALSO SAID, 'I DID NOT USE THE AUXILIARY FUEL BOOST PUMPS.' THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE RIGHT MAIN FUEL TANK HAD 3/4 OF A GALLON AND THE LEFT MAIN FUEL TANK HAD 3 1/4 GALLONS. THE INVESTIGATION ALSO REVEALED THE RIGHT FUEL TANK GAGE READ APPROXIMATELY 25 GALLONS HIGH, AND THE LEFT MAIN FUEL TANK GAGE READ APPROXIMATELY 15 GALLONS HIGH. THE CESSNA FLIGHT HANDBOOK, BEFORE LANDING CHECKLIST STATES IN PART: ITEM #4, AUXILIARY FUEL BOOST PUMPS ON. THE AIRPLANE MANUFACTURER SAYS WITHOUT USING THE AUXILIARY FUEL BOOST PUMPS, ANY INTERRUPTION OF THE FUEL SUPPLY CAN CAUSE THE ENGINE TO EXPERIENCE FUEL EXHAUSTION.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S INCOMPLETE PREFLIGHT OF THE FUEL QUANTITY AND THE INACCURATE FUEL GAGES, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL STARVATION AND TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER AND SUBSEQUENT FORCED LANDING ON ROUGH TERRAIN. FACTORS RELATING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT'S IMPROPER INFLIGHT FUEL MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES AND HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THIS AIRPLANE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC91LA127
Event ID
20001212X17098
Case number
NYC91LA127
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: 265f55255c7705b81d389a14ff32cb87854ff01a4cbead3318c80e53337ec91a; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:13:41.615Z.