WPR19LA160 · Cessna 150 F
Cessna 150 F · Accident: fuel contamination en route
From Yolo County Davis Woodland Winters Airport (DWA) to Yolo County Davis Woodland Winters Airport (KDWA)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR19LA160
- 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 150 F
- 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
- N6617F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Yolo County Davis Woodland Winters Airport (DWA), Davis/Woodland/Winters, CATo Yolo County Davis Woodland Winters Airport (KDWA), Yolo County, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 53 years (built 1966)
- 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
- 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
- Fuel contamination
- 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 › Fluids/miscellaneous hardware
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and passenger performed a preflight inspection of the airplane before the accident flight, during which they discovered water in the fuel. They sumped the fuel tanks until they observed water-free fuel samples then taxied the airplane to the airport's fuel island and filled the tanks to capacity, which totaled 26 gallons. They took multiple additional fuel samples after fueling the airplane and observed more water in the tanks. They continued to sump the tanks until no water was observed. Despite evidence of severe water contamination, the pilot elected to proceed with the flight. Once airborne, they performed touch-and-go landings at multiple airports before they returned to their home airport. During the return flight, the pilot experienced a total loss of engine power, and, after unsuccessful attempts to restart the engine, the pilot performed a forced landing in a field near their home airport. The engine mount, firewall, and rudder were substantially damaged during the accident. Examination of the airplane found evidence of water contamination in the right-wing tank and throughout the fuel system, which likely caused the engine to lose all power. The airplane had been stored outside for several months before the accident flight, at which time rain was likely introduced into the right-wing fuel tank, which did not form a proper seal. The mechanic who recently replaced the gasket and lanyard on the left wing may have erroneously notated the incorrect fuel tank in the aircraft logbook. The pilot proceeded with the flight despite the discovery of water contamination.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power due to water contamination in the fuel, which resulted in a forced landing and collision with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's improper decision to proceed with the flight after discovering the contaminated fuel.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR19LA160
- Event ID
- 20190607X12807
- Case number
- WPR19LA160
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2019-06-07.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 15864776e8d07d976a4d248b8bd3fa9d4e3eae9f3c8ad3d11929deef2165fe11; retrieved 2026-09-16T09:11:06.350Z.