LAX91LA298 · Cessna 152
Aerleon Cessna 152 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From FURNACE CREEK, CA (no airport) to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA298
- 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 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N5533B
- Operator
- Aerleon
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From FURNACE CREEK, CA (no airport)To Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, NV
- 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 · cruise
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, not performed
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
- Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS FLYING A NIGHT CROSS-COUNTRY WHEN HE ENCOUNTERED TURBULENCE AND HEAVY RAIN. HE SAID THAT HE BECAME DISORIENTED BECAUSE OF THE DARKNESS AND WEATHER. HE SAID THAT HE COULD NOT SEE HIS MAGNETIC COMPASS BECAUSE HE COULD NOT FIND HIS GLASSES. HE SAID THAT HE DID NOT KNOW HOW MUCH TIME HE HAD BEEN FLYING BECAUSE HE LOST HIS WATCH AND THE AIRCRAFT'S CLOCK WAS INOPERABLE. AFTER FLYING AROUND DISORIENTED FOR AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME, HE CONTACTED AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FACILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. ABOUT FIVE MINUTES AFTER HE CONTACTED THEM, THE AIRCRAFT RAN OUT OF FUEL. THE PILOT ENTERED A FORCED LANDING DESCENT. HE LANDED HARD ON THE NOSE GEAR AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER. FAA INSPECTORS EXAMINED THE AIRCRAFT AND FOUND LESS THAN ONE CUP OF FUEL REMAINING IN THE FUEL TANKS. NO EVIDENCE OF FUEL LEAKAGE COULD BE FOUND.
Probable cause
FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO IMPROPER PREFLIGHT PLANNING, AND FAILURE TO REFUEL THE AIRCRAFT. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE: 1) THE PILOT BECOMING LOST/DISORIENTED ; 2) THE DARK NIGHT CONDITIONS; 3) THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO SEEK HELP IN A TIMELY FASHION; AND 4) THE LOSS OF HIS EYEGLASSES WITH THE RESULTANT VISUAL PROBLEMS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA298
- Event ID
- 20001212X17589
- Case number
- LAX91LA298
- 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 1991-07-09.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1770222b9451ad9ab46fd2d488e007494e8430cce4b9735253345dffaf30267a; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:31:41.870Z.