Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published its final report on the deadly aviation crash that occurred in York County last year close to a Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange.
According to the NTSB’s investigation, the crash caused by fuel exhaustion killed 74-year-old Lawrence Sager of Harrisburg and badly injured 71-year-old pilot Kenneth Sager of Derry Township.
The Dec. 5 report states that at approximately 8:15 a.m., Kenneth Sager filled up the 1955 Cessna 180 to its 55-gallon capacity and then took off on a three-leg flight from Farmers Pride Airport in Bethel Township, Lebanon County. The airfield owner also confirmed Sager’s claim that he packed the Cessna to overflowing.
But according to the report, the airport owner told the NTSB that he spotted a Cessna 180 or 185 when Sager arrived at Brokenstraw Airport in Pittsfield, Pennsylvania, at around 9:30 a.m., and he was positive it wasn’t refueled before it took off at around 10:28 a.m.
Around 11:40 a.m., Sager touched down at a private grass airstrip near Rowlesburg, West Virginia, after the flight’s next leg from Pittsfield. The private airstrip’s owner informed the NTSB that there was no fuel on the property that day and that he was not present.
According to the NTSB, the Cessna took off from West Virginia at 1:24 p.m. with a flight plan to return to Farmers Pride Airport.
The report claims that Sager thought about stopping at Carlisle Airport, which is roughly 40 miles from Farmers Pride Airport, to refuel, but he decided to make the 15-mile journey to Capital City Airport instead because he was worried about fuel availability.
Fuel was certified to be available at Carlisle Airport by the NTSB.
Sager declared his plan to divert to Capital City Airport, which was about 9 miles ahead of the plane’s current course, about 30 miles from Farmers Pride Airport.
The three legs of the May 31, 2023, flight prior to the Cessna 180 crash near a Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange in Fairview Township, York County, are depicted on this map, which was part of the NTSB report.
National Transportation Safety Board creditBoard for National Transportation Safety
Sager reported the Cessna 180 had experienced an engine failure around five miles from Capital City Airport. Around 2:35 p.m., the aircraft struck a utility truck on a Pennsylvania Turnpike exit ramp in Fairview Township, just a mile from the Capital City Airport, and it was positioned to land on one of the runways.
According to the NTSB, Sager calculated that the Cessna used around 12 gallons of fuel per hour. An additional 1.5 gallons would be used for each engine start, warm-up, and takeoff, according to a graphic in the aircraft’s operating manual.
Given those numbers, the NTSB reported that, excluding the increased fuel consumption (about 16.5 gallons per hour) during the three ascents undertaken over the trip’s legs, the Cessna used at least 52.5 gallons of its 55-gallon capacity.
After the disaster, investigators discovered traces of fuel in the Cessna and concluded that no mechanical issues prevented the aircraft from being flown normally. The engine’s test run validated those results.
According to the NTSB, one of the plane’s gas tanks contained around a pint of fuel, while the other was entirely empty.
According to the investigation, it was not possible to ascertain Sager’s pre-flight fuel planning, and it is unclear whether he visually checked the plane’s fuel level before departing for each leg of the journey.
According to the investigation, the accident would have been avoided if the pilot had kept a closer eye on the aircraft’s fuel condition during the trip.
According to the NTSB, Sager was certified as a flight instructor, flight engineer, and airline transportation pilot at the time of the disaster. In October 2022, Sager reported 31,000 total flying hours on his most recent FAA medical certificate.
According to the aircraft’s logbook, Sager had logged 58 hours of flight time in the Cessna 180.
Seven months and thirty-one flying hours before to the incident, the Cessna’s engine also underwent a major overhaul. Installing new cylinders, pushrods, piston pins, and two rocker arms were all part of the task.
Sager claims that he had been following the suggested break-in procedures, which included giving the engine a lot of power.
The pilot’s poor preflight fuel planning and poor in-flight decision-making, which led to a complete loss of engine power from gasoline exhaustion and a subsequent collision with objects and terrain, were identified by the NTSB as the crash’s likely cause.
Stories by
Madison Montag
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