Cessna 152 accident near Buckeye, Arizona, August 14, 1999
On August 14, 1999 at about 2:14 am local time, a Cessna 152, registered N49100, was destroyed in an accident near Buckeye, Arizona. It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculations used in flight planning.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 14, 1999 · about 2:14 am local time
- Place
- Buckeye, Arizona · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna 152 · all 152s on the register
- Registration
- N49100 · no longer on the register · serial 15283418
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
While inbound to his destination, the pilot reported that the engine began to miss. It resumed running a couple of times but finally stopped altogether. The pilot made a forced landing on a dirt road, damaging the aircraft. The aircraft was last serviced with 20.8 gallons of aviation fuel on the previous day. The pilot computed the fuel requirement for the flight by using the fuel consumption chart in the pilot operator's handbook. After a flight of 0.2 hours on the day before, the pilot estimated that he had 3 hours 55 minutes of fuel remaining (without reserve) for his cross-country flight. At the time the engine quit, the Hobbs meter showed that a total of 3 hours 36 minutes had elapsed. The average fuel consumption for the fuel load was 6.8 gallons per hour. The fuel capacity of the aircraft is 26 gallons with 1.5 gallons unusable. When asked about his planning, he acknowledged that his planning estimate of 6 gallons per hour had not considered the additional fuel requirements for his initial takeoff and climb, nor the seven other landings and takeoffs that he subsequently made since his last refueling. According to the POH performance charts, start, taxi, and takeoff requires 0.8-gallons of fuel. Aircraft retrieval personnel recovered less than 2 gallons of fuel from both of the main tanks and the fuel system was found to be intact. Safety Board investigators successfully started and ran the engine after the accident.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: private
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land
- Flight time: 281 hours in all; 62 in this make and model; 98 in the last 90 days; 62 in the last 30 days; 150 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 2 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 8,449 hours
- Last inspection: annual inspection, August 10, 1999; 10 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 1,600 lb
- Seats: 2
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Lycoming O-235-L2C (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: LII Lake Havasu Cit AZ at 11:45 pm
- Destination: GEU Glendale AZ
- Flight plan: VFR
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 320° at 4 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 25,000 ft; scat at 18,000 ft
- Temperature: 102°F (39°C), dew point 52°F (11°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
- Observation at 1:56 am from PHX, 40 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.