ERA18LA111 · Cessna 210 M

The commercial pilot stated that he did not visually check either fuel tank before takeoff because he had observed the airplane being fueled the day before; he assumed that the tanks were full (44.5 gallons of usable fuel per tank, 89 gallons total) and that he would have sufficient fuel (6.5 hours) for his estimated 5-hour aerial survey flight. He departed with the fuel selector positioned to the left tank; his normal routine was to switch fuel tanks every hour for the first 4 hours of flight. About 3 hours into the flight, the engine lost total power. The pilot switched the fuel selector to the right tank and attempted to restart the engine to no avail; he made a forced landing to a snow-covered field, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage, an engine mount, and the firewall. Postaccident examination revealed that the left- and right-wing fuel tanks were undamaged, that both fuel caps were secure, and that there was no evidence of leaks. The left tank was empty, and 33 gallons of fuel were drained from the right tank. Visual examination of the engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Although the pilot indicated that his typical routine was to switch fuel tanks every hour, given the amount of fuel remaining in the right tank, it is likely that the pilot did not adequately manage the fuel supply during flight, which resulted in the total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset