LAX86LA040 · Piper PA28-151
Piper PA28-151 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From John Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA) to Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX86LA040
- 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
Piper PA28-151
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA28
- 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
- N41309
- Operator
- Timothy W. Tufnell · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From John Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA), Santa Ana, CATo Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), San Jose, CA
- 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 exhaustion; Stall/mush
- 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 › Emergency procedure, not performed
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON FINAL APCH FOR SAN JOSE MUNI AIRPORT AT THE END OF A CROSS COUNTRY FLT, THE ACFT EXPERIENCED TOTAL FUEL EXHAUSTION. PLT DIVERTED A/C TO RIED HILLVIEW AIRPORT & ESTABLISHED POWER-OFF GLIDE. ON FINAL FOR RWY 31R, PLT SAID HE REALIZED THE A/C WOULD NOT MAKE THE RUNWAY & 'STALLED THE A/C' INTO GROUND OBSTRUCTIONS TO REDUCE THE FWD SPEED AT IMPACT. FAA INSPECTORS FOUND NO FUEL IN THE A/C & NO EVIDENCE OF FUEL LEAKAGE. A/C WAS AIRBORNE FOR ABOUT 3 HRS 45 MINS. THE PLT PLANNED A FUEL CONSUMPTION OF 7.9 GPH. PRIOR TO TAKEOFF AT DEPARTURE AIRPORT, A/C WAS FUELED TO THE TABS, WHICH GAVE A TOTAL USABLE FUEL LOAD OF 32 GALS. AT 7.9 GPH, 3 HRS 45 MINS OF ELAPSED TIME USES 29.6 GALS OF FUEL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX86LA040
- Event ID
- 20001214X38264
- Case number
- LAX86LA040
- 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 1985-11-18.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6b691099aa497c2455698d4c9985f00d9a37540d36fb3a0deb75f9e13933926a; retrieved 2026-09-23T15:16:27.950Z.