The pilot of a Beech 35 Bonanza hadn't performed a preflight inspection or checked his fuel supply before embarking on the 15- to 20-minute flight from his home base to Lincoln Municipal Airport in Lincoln, Nebraska. Two days before, in preparation for a flight that he didn't make, the pilot did perform a preflight. During the course of his inspection, he had found the left main tank 80 percent full, or so he thought, and the right main and auxiliary tanks at least 75 percent full. Certainly, the aircraft had enough fuel to complete the roundtrip flight to Lincoln to get the charts needed for an upcoming trip. And since the aircraft had been in the hangar since the previous preflight, the pilot assumed all was well.
The pilot did notice fuel siphoning from one of the fuel vents, but it stopped before he started the engine. He must have assumed that only a small amount of fuel had leaked out. In aviation, assumption is the mother of emergency.
The flight to Lincoln was uneventful. When completing his prelanding GUMPS check (Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Prop, Switches), the pilot noted that the fuel quantity indicator was in the green, confirming an adequate fuel supply.
The pilot again opted not to perform a preflight inspection or to refuel prior to departing Lincoln Municipal for Wahoo, Nebraska, later the same day. He departed with the fuel selector set to the left main tank. Climbing through an altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 feet, the engine lost power, and the pilot switched to the auxiliary tanks. He was unable to get the engine restarted, so he switched back to the left main fuel tank. He never operated the auxiliary fuel pump as part of the restart procedure.
Realizing that he could not make it back to the airport, he turned toward a nearby golf course. The nose gear collapsed during the landing, damaging the firewall. The pilot was uninjured, except for his pride.
The accident investigation revealed that the left main fuel tank was empty, but the right main tank and auxiliary tanks were full. The fuel indicator showed the left main tank to be empty. Had the pilot checked the fuel tanks visually before departure, he probably would have noticed the low fuel quantity and selected another tank for his flight.
When an engine quits as the result of fuel exhaustion, it is imperative that we follow the proper procedures to either restart or secure the engine. If a fuel tank has been run dry, it might take 30 seconds or longer to restart after switching to a tank with fuel. The use of a fuel boost pump can also be critical to restoring fuel flow and engine power. Had the pilot followed the proper emergency procedures, he might have successfully restarted the engine and avoided the off-field landing.
Another common theme in fuel exhaustion accidents is weather. Lowering ceilings and other weather phenomena may force us to divert from our intended route or destination, and winds often conspire to extend our flight beyond the planned time. The following report is a prime example of weather-related fuel exhaustion.
The pilot of a Piper Cherokee Six (PA-32-260) and his three passengers were en route from Romeoville, Illinois, to Mount Vernon, Illinois, a flight of approximately two hours. About half-way to Mount Vernon, the weather began to deteriorate, so the pilot turned tail back to Romeoville. Arriving at the Romeoville Lewis/Lockport area, the pilot found overcast conditions and was unable to land. Now he was running low on fuel, and although unsure of his position, he decided to divert to Dupage County Airport.
In the Dupage area the pilot again found low ceilings and descended to an altitude of about 600 feet above ground level. He had been airborne for approximately two hours and 45 minutes, and just as he was about to declare an emergency, the engine sputtered into silence. The pilot landed in a large field, where the nose and right main gear collapsed on rollout. Neither the pilot nor any of his passengers was injured.
Had the pilot monitored the changing weather situation and made an earlier decision to alter his flight plan, he could have avoided his problems. The Cherokee Six carries 83 gallons of useable fuel - enough for more than five hours of flying. Had the pilot carried more fuel or landed earlier to refuel, he may have been better prepared for the situation ahead.
Low ceilings and visibility are an excellent reason to divert, but even strong winds can foul up navigation enough to disorient pilots, and the process of reorienting ourselves can be a time and fuel consuming exercise. Without sufficient fuel reserves, a sorry ending to the flight is almost inevitable, as in the following accidents.
The 54-hour private pilot of a Cessna 150 preflighted his aircraft and measured the fuel quantity with a "metered stick." According to his measurement, the aircraft had about two-and-one-half to three hours of useable fuel. Following the preflight, the pilot departed Coulter Field Airport near Bryan, Texas, for a 25-minute local flight.
During a second local flight planned to last about one-and-a-half hours on the same day, the winds came up and the pilot was blown further east than he had anticipated. He located Madison Municipal Airport and decided to land there to check his fuel supply and plot a course back to Coulter Field. On final to Runway 36, the engine coughed and quit as a result of fuel exhaustion. The pilot made a forced landing, struck a tree, and came to rest on the shoulder of a county road. The pilot and his passenger were uninjured.
In a similar accident, the private pilot of a Cessna 150 was on a cross-country flight from Tevis Field in Kansas to Detroit, Michigan. He had been flying for about two-and-a-half hours when he decided to land near Champaign, Illinois. Because of the winds, the pilot missed the airport, and so he diverted to Paxton, Illinois. After six unsuccessful attempts to locate the field, the engine quit because of fuel exhaustion, and the pilot declared an emergency. He made a forced landing in a plowed farm field two-and-a-half miles west of Paxton Airport. Although the aircraft was substantially damaged, the pilot suffered no injuries.
These two accidents highlight the importance of situational awareness. Had the pilots in each case kept track of their position and fuel consumption, they could have found an alternate airport and landed before running the tanks dry.
Our final accident report illustrates the importance of proper fuel system management. Had the pilot and instructor followed the published checklists and adhered to good fuel management practices, this accident could have been avoided.
It was a VFR morning in March when the private pilot of a Mooney M20G and his instructor were practicing touch and gos in the pattern at Naples, Florida. The pilot had just completed a touch and go on Runway 14 when the tower controller instructed him to fly right-hand traffic. On crosswind, the engine lost power. As the pilot wrote in his report, "I pitched down and tried to restart the engine on either tank using both the starter and windmilling." There were too many people on the nearby golf course to land safely, so the pilot opted for a road and made a gear-up emergency landing.
Examination of the wreckage revealed that the right fuel tank was empty, and that the left tank contained about 10 gallons of usable fuel. The left fuel system operated normally, and no problem was found with the engine.
The aircraft had last been fueled about three weeks prior and had been flown 1.7 hours previous to the fateful flight. On this day, the pilot had flown about 45 minutes, and the fuel selector had been set to the right tank for the duration of the flight. The pilot stated that he attempted to select the left tank when the engine quit, but he may have inadvertently selected the "Off" position.
Running out of fuel may be easy, but so is taking the basic precautions needed to avoid the problem. All it takes is a little time for a careful preflight, thorough planning, and the proper attention to fuel management.
Ten Tips to Avoid Fuel Exhaustion
- Always preflight the aircraft, and visually check the fuel quantity.
- Use the data in the approved aircraft flight manual or pilot's operating handbook to determine power settings, fuel consumption, and airspeed. Always read the fine print in the performance charts and tables, and follow the manufacturer's recommendations for leaning.
- Always calculate an emergency fuel time (giving yourself a minimum one-hour reserve) and zero fuel time before departure. Write these times down or set a timer to remind you as the time to decide whether to make a fuel stop approaches.
- The FAA regulations for fuel reserves (Part 91.151 and Part 91.167 of the federal aviation regulations) are minimums, not targets. Always plan at least one hour of reserve fuel - more for cross-country, IFR, and night flights.
- Before takeoff, or soon after reaching cruise altitude, verify that the engine will continue to run with the fuel selector set to any tank that has fuel. If it won't, change your flight plan accordingly.
- On a cross-country flight, refuel at every stop.
- Monitor weather conditions continually using flight watch (122.0 MHz), air traffic control, flight service stations, or recorded weather sources like ASOS, AWOS, and ATIS. Make plans early to divert.
- Situational awareness is an important ingredient in any flight. Use flight following when available, and crosscheck your pilotage and dead reckoning with radio navigation. Always use a navigation log, and make corrections for unexpected winds aloft.
- In addition to your checklist, use a mnemonic or other reminder in each phase of flight to aid fuel management.
- Know the emergency procedures for your aircraft, and review them before every flight.
Remember, when it comes to fuel management, assume nothing, and then check and recheck everything
