Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On January 8, 2001, approximately 1130 mountain standard time, a Cessna 150F, N8067F, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during a forced landing at Meeker, Colorado. The commercial certificated flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the instructional flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from Meeker approximately 1015.

In a telephone interview with the instructor conducted shortly after the accident, he said the fuel in the left tank measured 2-1/2 inches in depth prior to takeoff. There was a negligible amount of fuel in the right tank. After 1.3 hours of flying (as recorded on the Hobbs meter), the engine lost power as the airplane was climbing on the downwind leg. The instructor took control of the airplane and made a forced landing in a snow covered field adjacent to the airport. When the airplane touched down, the nose wheel settled into the snow and was torn off, and the left wing tip dragged through the soft snow, spinning the airplane around. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, and the nose and left main landing gear.

In his accident report, the instructor said that after the accident the fuel in the left fuel tank measured 1 inch in depth. After the airplane had been moved to its hangar, the master switch was turned on and the left tank registered slightly less than one-half full.

In a second written statement, the instructor said the student pilot preflighted the airplane and checked the fuel levels in both tanks. The right tank measured about 1/2 inch and the left tank measured about 2 inches. "This was enough fuel for about an hour and a half of flight time," he wrote. The instructor indicated that the power loss occurred shortly after takeoff, when the airplane was on the downwind leg. He made no mention that the airplane had flown 1.3 Hobbs meter hours prior to the power loss.

The student pilot also submitted a brief statement. He said that his instructor "apparently misunderstood when I checked the tanks physically with the tube. I 'stabbed' the tanks after we were forced to land and found 2" or so in the left wing tank and none in the right. It is also stated that he shut off the master switch. Although he may have hit it afterward, I hit it first." Fuel exhaustion due to the failure of the instructor to ensure there was sufficient fuel for the flight. Factors were the instructor's inadequate supervision of the student pilot, and the deep snow-covered terrain.