FTW88LA156 · Cessna 172E
Gatlin Aviation Cessna 172E · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Brenham Municipal Airport (11R) to 3XSL · Waller, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW88LA156
- 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 172E
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N7746U
- Operator
- Gatlin Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brenham Municipal Airport (11R), Brenham, TXTo 3XSL · Waller, TX
- 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
- Wire, transmission
- 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 › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, poor
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Katy, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT DEPARTED ON THE NIGHT CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING NIGHT CURRENCY. DURING THE RETURN LEG THE PILOT STOPPED AT THREE AIRPORTS, BUT WAS UNABLE TO FUEL BECAUSE FIXED BASE OPERATORS WERE CLOSED. IN AN EFFORT TO RETURN TO THE POINT OF DEPARTURE THE PILOT OVERFLEW THE DESTINATION BECAUSE AIRPORT LIGHTING WAS SECURED AT 2300. WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH TO A LIGHTED PRIVATE STRIP THE FUEL EXHAUSTION INDUCED POWER LOSS OCCURRED. DURING THE FORCED LANDING THE LEFT WING STRUCK A POWER LINE AND THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH THE TERRAIN NOSE GEAR FIRST.
Probable cause
FUEL EXHAUSTION INDUCED POWER LOSS, WHICH NECESSITATED THE FORCED LANDING. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S DECISION TO ATTEMPT TO CONTINUE THE FLIGHT WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO REFUEL, AND BECOMING LOST DURING THAT EFFORT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW88LA156
- Event ID
- 20001213X26577
- Case number
- FTW88LA156
- 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: db9d317ab4978fdc4d3d981b770f761886d8a1172ade1a81db23b658cf3a2d71; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:25:48.084Z.