ATL89LA128 · Cessna 177RG
Cessna 177RG · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From The Ohio State University Airport - Don Scott Field (OSU) to Savannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL89LA128
- 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 177RG
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 177
- 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
- N7504V
- Operator
- Erdy, J. Walter · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From The Ohio State University Airport - Don Scott Field (OSU), Columbus, OHTo Savannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV), Savannah, GA
- 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, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, poor
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED HE WAS AT 4000 FEET IN CRUISE WHEN THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE AIRCRAFT LANDED IN AN OPEN FIELD FLIPPING OVER AFTER THE NOSE WHEEL DUG INTO SOFT DIRT. TWO FACTORS PRESENT WERE STRONG WINDS ALOFT AND INACCURATE FUEL INDICATING SYSTEM. THE RIGHT FLOAT WHEN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK SHOWED TWO NEEDLE WIDTH OF FUEL REMAINING. THE PILOT ALLOWED ONE TANK TO GO EMPTY AND RELIED ON THE RIGHT TANK INDICATION OF LESS THEN ONE QUARTER FULL. THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN ENROUTE FOR 4 HOURS AND 22 MINUTES AND WAS 78 STATUTE MILES FROM DESTINATION. THE PILOT DID NOT MAINTAIN ADEQUATE FUEL TO COMPLETE THE FLIGHT WITH AN IFR RESERVE WITH THE FUEL INDICATED. THE PILOT HAD PLANNED FOR A 4 HOUR FLIGHT WITH 5.5 HOURS OF FUEL ON BOARD.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S POOR IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION IN CONTINUING FLIGHT TO THE DESTINATION AIRPORT WITHOUT REFUELING WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. UNFAVORABLE WINDS AND INADEQUATE FUEL CONSUMPTION CALCULATIONS WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL89LA128
- Event ID
- 20001213X28032
- Case number
- ATL89LA128
- 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: b695dc52deffef290679b9cede22fb6afbae0ec4029fe2e82eb4ac947072e789; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:15:11.080Z.