Cessna 172F N8881U accident near Pomona, California

Probable cause

Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and his failure to refuel the airplane.

NTSB analysis

The pilot said that when he started his cross-country flight, 2.4 hours had been flown by the airplane since the fuel tanks had been topped off. His first leg was 1.1 hours in length; he landed and spent approximately 1.5 hours on the ground. He was approximately 1.1 hours into his return flight, turning base for landing, when the engine lost power. He performed a forced landing to a large parking lot and impacted the fence on its perimeter during landing roll. The airplane's right wing lift strut was bent, and the right wing's leading edge was wrinkled and bent. No fuel was found in the airplane's fuel tanks.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for LAX08CA214 for the full record.