CESSNA 182A

Full Narrative

On June 13, 2015, about 1900 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 182A airplane, N5143D, experienced a loss of engine power while on final approach to the Canyonlands Field Airport (CNY), Moab, Utah. The pilot subsequently made an off airport forced landing. The commercial pilot was not injured. The airplane sustained structural damage to the tail section of the airplane. The airplane was operated by Skydive Canyonlands under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a skydiving operation. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area flight, and a company flight plan had been filed.

The pilot reported that there was a total of 14 gallons of fuel on board when he took the airplane and that no other fuel was added. The flight departed from runway 21, and he made several left turns to align the airplane with the intended drop zone. Once the jumpers exited the airplane, he flew on a northwestern heading for a few miles before he initiated a left turn for a return to the airport. About 3 miles from the airport, the engine lost power. The pilot tried unsuccessfully to restart the engine before initiating a forced landing on rough desert terrain.

A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel level in the right-side fuel tank was about 5 gallons, and the left-side fuel tank had about 3 gallons. According to the airplane's operating limitations, there is 10 gallons of unusable fuel, of which 7 gallons may be available, but only in level flight operations

The company reported that this airplane burns about 12 gallons of fuel per hour; the accident flight was estimated to be 30-35 minutes.

Neither the pilot nor the operator completed the National Transportation Safety Board Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report Form 6120.1.