FTW03LA157 · Cessna 150L
Cessna 150L · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From Burnet Municipal Airport/Kate Craddock Field (BMQ) to Draughon Miller Central Texas Regional Airport (TPL)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW03LA157
- 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
- Unknown
- 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 150L
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N6520G
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Burnet Municipal Airport/Kate Craddock Field (BMQ), Burnet, TXTo Draughon Miller Central Texas Regional Airport (TPL), Temple, TX
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During the turn from base to final, the solo student pilot reduced the throttle to 1,500 rpm. According to the student pilot, the airplane was farther away from the runway than anticipated, so he increased the throttle; however, the engine lost rpm. The student pilot performed the emergency procedure but engine power was not restored. During the night forced landing, the airplane collided with trees short of the runway. The integrity of the fuel system was compromised. The fuel tanks were reported full (26.5 gallons, 22 gallons usable) when the airplane departed for the round robin flight. En route refueling was planned, and the pilot added 9.3 gallons at the first refueling point; however, fueling personnel were not on duty at the airport for the second planned refueling. The student measured his fuel using a fuel measuring stick, and calculated his remaining fuel to be 10 gallons (approximately 9 gallons usable). The student telephoned his instructor, and both agreed on an alternate airport for refueling. The total flight time was 4.6 hours. Based on the available flight plan data, the aircraft manufacturer's representative calculated a total fuel consumption of 21.6 gallons for the planned round robin flight. The carburetor icing probability chart indicates that carburetor icing was possible at glide and cruise power with the ambient temperature of 88 degrees Fahrenheit and a dew point of 66 degrees Fahrenheit.
Probable cause
The total loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. Contributing factors were the night conditions and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW03LA157
- Event ID
- 20030528X00737
- Case number
- FTW03LA157
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2003-05-20.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 24a74b3c26c3929b0647f07c4b875b6b04e4393a87014587c1a9fba329bccb6f; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:29:06.635Z.