CHI85FA005 · Cessna 310C
Cessna 310C · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport (MCK) to Padgham Field (35D)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI85FA005
- 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
- 1 · 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 310C
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 310
- 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
- N9715Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport (MCK), MC COOK, NETo Padgham Field (35D), Allegan, MI
- 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
- 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
- Partial 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 › Fuel consumption calculations, inadequate
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Overconfidence in personal ability
- Pilot in command › Self-induced pressure
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE NON INST NON MULTI-ENG RATED PVT PLT/OWNER OCCUPIED THE RT SEAT & EMPLOYED THE CFI FOR FERRYING THE NEWLY PURCHASED ACFT. FROM THE START, THE FLT EXPERIENCED COMM DIFFICULTIES & A COMPASS SYSTEM MALFUNCTION PROBLEM. ARTCC TRANSCRIPTS REVEAL THAT ATC WAS AWARE OF THE COMPASS PROBLEM & VECTORED N97152 BACK ON CRS FREQUENTLY. THE PLT/OWNER STATED THAT HE SLEPT FROM DEPT TO APRX 1/2 HR BEFORE THE CRASH. HE SAID HE WOKE TO WHAT HE CONSIDERED HEAVY RAIN NOISE & HEAVY TURBULENCE. ABOUT THIS TIME THE CFI REQUESTED RADAR VECTORS TO THE VOR FINAL APCH COURSE AT PAGDHAM ARPT BUT WAS TOLD THE FINAL APCH FIX WAS NOT DEPICTED ON RADAR. THE CFI THEN STATED HE WAS LOW ON FUEL AND ASKED TO BE VECTORED 'RIGHT OVER THE AIRPORT AT ALLEGAN.' HE SPOTTED THE ARPT BELOW HIM AND CANCELED HIS IFR CLEARANCE. THE PLT/OWNER STATED THAT THE ACFT WAS BURNING FUEL FROM THE AUX TANKS AND THE GAGES INDICATED '0'. THE ACFT CRASHED A FEW MINS LATER. INVESTIGATION VERIFIED FUEL EXHAUSTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI85FA005
- Event ID
- 20001214X41292
- Case number
- CHI85FA005
- 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: 5e37c0b43b9019b09111b863fe2c7d7eb53fd214f61c40ac5ae73685bd766b05; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:18:22.661Z.