CHI08CA255 · Cessna 182C
Cessna 182C · Accident: loss of engine power (total) on approach
From Vermilion Regional Airport (DNV) to Sparta Community Airport - Hunter Field (SAR)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI08CA255
- 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 182C
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N8643T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Vermilion Regional Airport (DNV), Danville, ILTo Sparta Community Airport - Hunter Field (SAR), Sparta, IL
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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 (total)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that he originally departed Warsaw, Indiana, at about 0730 on the morning of the accident. He stated that the airplane contained approximately 45 gallons of usable fuel. He stated that during the flight the "service oil filter screen" light illuminated, so he diverted. He stated that he removed and cleaned the oil filter screen and changed the oil prior to departing for the Sparta Community Airport (SAR). The pilot stated that he began his descent, and when he reached traffic pattern altitude he attempted to add power to no avail. He stated the fuel gauges were indicating that he still had fuel and the propeller was wind milling prior to it stopping. The pilot initiated an off airport landing in a retail parking lot. The nose gear separated from the airplane resulting in firewall damage, and the left main gear collapsed when the airplane impacted the ground. The airplane then slid into a ditch where it came to rest. Post accident inspection of the airplane revealed that it came to rest with the right wing higher than the left wing. The right wing did not contain any fuel and the left wing contained less than four gallons of fuel. The gascolator was separated from the airplane due to the impact, and there was no evidence of fuel leakage at the accident site.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate preflight/planning which resulted in the failure to assure an adequate fuel supply for the flight and the improper flare during the landing. Contributing to the accident was the ditch that the airplane contacted.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI08CA255
- Event ID
- 20080912X01440
- Case number
- CHI08CA255
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 52dd3fede968c1504878e16e034fa4b59522d7e8b09b9be25c308b8d8f2eb005; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:12:00.856Z.