CHI89GA048 · Piper PA-28-180
Piper PA-28-180 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Waukegan National Airport (UGN) to CGX · Chicago, IL
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI89GA048
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Government
- 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
Piper PA-28-180
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N16375
- Operator
- Michael J. Belica · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waukegan National Airport (UGN), Waukegan, ILTo CGX · Chicago, IL
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT & 2 OBSERVER/TRAINEES WERE ON A FLT ALONG THE LAKE MICHIGAN SHORELINE. AFTER APRX 23 MIN OF FLT, WHILE APCHG TO LAND AT CHICAGO, THE PLT RPRTD AN ENG PROBLEM OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN. HE ATTEMPTED TO LAND IN A PARKING LOT AT A WATER FILTRATION PLANT. AFTER CLRG THE ROOF OF A BLDG, THE ACFT TURNED & SUBSEQUENTLY COLLIDED WITH A RETAINING WALL AT THE EDGE OF THE PARKING LOT. BOTH OBSERVER/TRAINEES WERE FATALLY INJURED. THE PLT WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED & WAS UNABLE TO RECALL THE EVENTS OF THE FLT. THE FUEL SELECTOR WAS FOUND POSITIONED TO THE LEFT FUEL TANK, WHICH REMAINED INTACT. LESS THAN 1 GAL OF FUEL WAS ESTIMATED TO BE REMAINING IN THE LEFT TANK. THE ACFT FUEL TANKS HAD A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 50 GAL, OF WHICH, 13.5 PINTS OF FUEL WAS CONSIDERED TO BE UNUSABLE (LESS THAN 1 GAL PER TANK). APRX 3 HRS AFTER THE ACDNT, NO ODOR OF FUEL WAS NOTED BENEATH THE RUPTURED RGT FUEL TANK. NO WITNESSES OR RECORDS WERE FOUND TO INDICATE THE ACFT HAD BEEN REFUELED BEFORE THE FLT.
Probable cause
INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT OF THE AIRCRAFT BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION DUE TO AN INADEQUATE SUPPLY OF FUEL. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS AND RETAINING WALL IN THE EMERGENCY LANDING AREA.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI89GA048
- Event ID
- 20001213X27554
- Case number
- CHI89GA048
- 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: 1c4e4c8e37a8304be3042dd616e9366bd0c5b1f48940c055f8d647400a4e8597; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:38:55.242Z.