Troubled Cessna Was Low on Fuel, Report Says

A charter plane that clipped two school buses in an emergency landing near Van Nuys Airport had no fuel left in its main tanks and fewer than six gallons in auxiliary tanks, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Further studies will be conducted to determine if the remaining fuel was sufficient to sustain engine power during an angled descent for landing, said Bob Crispin, NTSB air safety investigator.

The pilot reported that first one engine, then the other, on the twin piston-powered aircraft quit as he approached a landing last Wednesday at Van Nuys. In both cases, pilot Michael G. Busch told investigators he switched fuel selectors from the main tanks to auxiliaries, but could not restart the engines.

“There were measurable amounts of fuel, one gallon on the left and four to five gallons on the right,” Crispin said. “Whether it was sufficient or not is what we intend to find out.” A final report could take as long as a year, NTSB officials said.

Because the plane was descending, he added, there is a possibility that the fuel was at a position in the tanks where it could not be pumped into the engine.

The report noted “there was no evidence of residual fuel” in the main tanks, which were severed from the wing tips of the plane as it whizzed between the school buses carrying a total of 46 children and two drivers. One of the drivers and one child received minor injuries.

Authorities at the scene called it a miracle that there was no explosion and fire from the severed tanks--left lying in the intersection near the buses--and no serious injuries.

Without power, the pilot, who was flying alone, was forced to land about a half-mile northwest of the airport runway. The plane touched down at 2:50 p.m. on Hayvenhurst Avenue, about 600 feet north of Parthenia Street, just as traffic signals on Hayvenhurst turned red, according to the NTSB report.

The buses, traveling in opposite directions on Parthenia Street, pulled into the intersection, then stopped, veering slightly, just as the plane whizzed between them. The wings of the plane hit the front ends of both buses, shearing off the main 50-gallon fuel tanks. The pilot braked to a stop 1,500 feet south of the intersection, the report noted.

The 10-passenger plane, a 1969 Cessna 402A owned by Sussex Aviation of Van Nuys, had been leased by Van Nuys-based Sunshine Airlines to fly passengers to the Grand Canyon. But the pilot landed at Laughlin / Bullhead International Airport in Arizona after noting a high temperature warning from an engine oil gauge, the investigator reported.

A second plane with a different pilot was sent to pick up passengers. Busch, 27, of Rowland Heights, was asked by Sussex to return the plane to Van Nuys, according to a statement made last week by Sunshine Airlines.

The NTSB report noted that the pilot did not add fuel for the 1.3-hour turnaround flight. Slightly less than half of the plane’s 130-gallon fuel supply had been used on the initial flight, the report found.