LAX04CA181 · Piper PA-38-112
Piper PA-38-112 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) to California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX04CA181
- 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
Piper PA-38-112
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-38
- 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
- N2609F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, CATo California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV), Arcata, 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
- 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; 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
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane experienced a total loss of engine power and made a forced landing in a field. The pilot departed with full fuel in both tanks (30 gallons), which she thought would be equivalent to 5 hours 13 minutes of flight. The purpose of the 340 nautical mile flight was for the pilot to fulfill the solo cross-country requirements for the commercial pilot certificate. The flight instructor thought that in an effort to satisfy the requirements, the pilot would need to perform a nonstop cross-country leg that was a minimum of 250 nautical miles. During the flight over the mountains terrain, the winds were strong and turbulent. While en route she realized that she had been off course for about 10 minutes, and maneuvered to get the airplane back on course, which took about 20-25 minutes. After getting back on course, about 4 hours en route, the fuel gauges inside the cockpit indicated about 3 gallons of fuel in each tank. After the pilot obtained visual contact with the airport, about 8,500 feet above ground level (agl), the airplane's engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion in the right tank. She configured the airplane for best glide and switched to the left tank in an effort to regain power. The engine started and ran for about 30 seconds, before the power loss recurred again. During the descent, she followed the emergency checklist and glided down for about 5 to 10 minutes. About 1,000 feet agl, she realized that the airplane would not be able to make it to the runway, due to the dense trees in the glide path. She opted to land in a field, and, about 30 feet agl, the engine started again. The airplane climbed to about 40 to 50 feet agl and drifted to the right. The airplane collided with a tree and spun to the ground, landing in an upright position. The total time on the Hobbs meter indicated 4.1 hours for the duration of the flight. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane. Title 14 CFR Part 61.129 states that one of the requirements for the commercial license are, "One cross-country flight, if the training is being performed in a State other than Hawaii, with landings at a minimum of three points, and one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles."
Probable cause
a loss of engine power due fuel exhaustion, which was caused by the pilot's inadequate in-flight planning/decision, inadequate in-flight fuel consumption calculations, and failure to divert to an alternate airport before the fuel situation became critical. Factors in the accident were the pilot becoming lost and disoriented during the flight and the flight instructor's incorrect interpretation of regulations, resulting in inadequate preflight planning.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX04CA181
- Event ID
- 20040508X00575
- Case number
- LAX04CA181
- 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, coordinates. 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: 63b35664d0aaf2b7806e5e034ee638f714d2c70cdccbae1d663bce0b7edd9b00; retrieved 2026-09-22T07:46:16.933Z.