ATL86FA049 · Cessna 177RG
Cessna 177RG · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Palatka Municipal - Lt. Kay Larkin Field (28J) to Rossettie Airport (75G)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL86FA049
- 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 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
- N97TC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Palatka Municipal - Lt. Kay Larkin Field (28J), Palatka, FLTo Rossettie Airport (75G), Manchester, 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 · VFR pattern base
- 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
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Refueling, delayed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT CALLED THE ARPT ON UNICOM AND ASKED HOW TO FIND THE ARPT, STATED THAT HE NEEDED FUEL AND ASKED IF FUEL WAS AVAILABLE. HE WAS GIVEN DIRECTIONS AND ASKED IF HE HAD LANDED THERE BEFORE. HE REPLIED NO, AND INQUIRED ABOUT THE TRAFFIC PATTERN. IT WAS EXPLAINED TO HIM. HE WAS OBSERVED APPROACHING THE ARPT FROM THE NE AND FLYING DOWN THE VALLEY. HE ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A TURN INSIDE THE VALLEY, OVER SHOT THE TURN AND CRASHED INTO THE ROCK FACE OF A CUT ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE ARPT. LESS THAN ONE GAL OF FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE LEFT WING. THERE WAS NO FUEL FOUND IN THE RIGHT WING. THE PAX STATED THAT THEY HAD JUST HEADED NORTH TOWARD HOME AND DID NOT HAVE A REFUELING STOP PLANNED AT ANY SPECIAL PLACE. THERE WAS NO FLT PLAN. THE AIRCRAFT FLEW ABOUT 1 HR AND 28 MIN ON THE DAY PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. (NORMAL FUEL CONSUMPTION 10.8 GPH). RECORDS SHOW THAT ONLY 7 GALLONS OF FUEL WAS ADDED AT KAY LARKIN AIRPORT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL86FA049
- Event ID
- 20010110X00101
- Case number
- ATL86FA049
- 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: f32e2ba9efa9b1857f8aeaad451d6767c018846e8346f2f73a47fc6a6e4d02b8; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:42:48.496Z.