Fuel Exhaustion & Starvation · NTSB CEN11FA425
CESSNA T210L — Romeoville, IL
| Date | June 26, 2011 |
| Location | Romeoville, IL |
| Aircraft | CESSNA T210L |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Emergency descent Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 68 |
| Pilot total time | 5,850 hrs · High time |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 1, 1 serious |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Fuel planning-Pilot - C
- Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Fluids-Fuel-Fluid management - C
What happened
According to the passenger, the pilot had successfully completed two touch-and-go landings, and during the climbout, the engine lost power. The airplane impacted trees, a power line, and terrain. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no fuel in the wing fuel tanks, and the gascolator only contained about 2 ounces of fuel. Only a trace amount of fuel was found in the engine’s fuel manifold valve. The passenger said that the pilot had drained the fuel sumps, but he did not recall whether the pilot had fueled the airplane. A subsequent examination and operational test of the airplane’s engine was performed. No defects in engine operation were detected and the engine produced full rated power during the test.