'Fuel Exhaustion' Led to B-25's Hard Landing: NTSB

"Old Glory," a 1940s era twin-engine bomber ran out of fuel before performing a hard landing in Stockton, NTSB said in its final report.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, February 08, 2023 at 04:58 PM ET

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View of the accident airplane at the accident site. [Courtesy: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

A B-25N warbird made a hard landing in Stockton, California, due to a total loss of engine power caused by fuel exhaustion, resulting in injuries to three people on board.
The NTSB cited erroneous fuel gauge indications and inadequate preflight planning and inspection by the three-person crew as significant contributing factors.
The crew failed to visually verify fuel levels, relying instead on faulty gauges and inconsistent information, which led to an underestimation of the fuel state during multiple flights.

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A warbird on the very last leg of a ferry flight in 2020 made a hard landing in Stockton, California, because it ran out of fuel, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB released its final report on the September 19, 2020 accident involving the North American B-25N, N7946C known as Old Glory. Three people on board the aircraft were injured in the accident.