Sufficient planning and maintaining a sterile cockpit are vital parts of flying safely, and if not conducted properly, they can become major factors in aircraft accidents. Flying during a nice day can cause pilots to become distracted and less aware of important things in the cockpit. For example, there is a video in which two pilots flying on a nice day were engaged in conversation in the cockpit and did not realize the warning horn for the landing gear was going off. The pilots continued with their approach and landed with the wheels still retracted.
During a cross-country flight with my flight instructor, we set out from San Diego, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a weekend getaway. Conducting our preflight checks, we determined we could not fill the tanks completely because we would have four adults on board. After figuring out how much fuel we could carry, we filed our flight plan and took off on the one-hour, 45-minute journey to Las Vegas. After climbing to 10,500 feet, we decided to make a spontaneous stop at Borrego Valley Airport to watch an airshow and grab some lunch. Once we finished our activities, we boarded the airplane to continue our trip to Las Vegas. We revised our flight plan and noticed that we had a stronger headwind than originally forecast. In order to obtain calmer air and burn less fuel, we contacted SoCal Approach and requested a higher altitude. Socal Approach granted our request.
Since I was still a student pilot, my flight instructor and I went over proper cross-country procedures and techniques to make any cross-country flight a little easier. We reviewed flight planning, VOR tracking, and dead-reckoning procedures, among other things.
After about an hour of flying we relaxed, knowing we would be approaching Las Vegas soon. Once we saw the Las Vegas strip, we lost our focus on flying the airplane and monitoring the engine gauges, and instead thought about having a great time in Sin City. We started making plans for the evening. We listened to music while trying to monitor radio calls. After receiving clearance into the Class Bravo airspace, we began our descent into North Las Vegas Airport.
While working on our descent checklist, we noticed that our fuel was extremely low. We were unsure if we would be able make it to the airport, so we decided to descend without flaps, thus creating less drag on the airplane. The tower controller cleared us to land number three following a Gulfstream on a four-mile final. That was music to our ears, but we were still uncertain if we were going to make it to the airport. We began looking for any place, far away from power lines, where it was long and safe enough to land. After five minutes that seemed like an eternity, we were cleared to land.
After turning final, we extended our flaps and landed safely on the runway. We began to taxi to transient parking to tie down the airplane for the night. While taxiing to our parking spot, the engine quit.
We flew our airplane and battled the odds of low fuel to a safe landing. But the fact remained that things very nearly went terribly wrong, and my flight instructor and I were extremely lucky.
There are quite a few things we could have done to prevent our situation. Unfortunately, we started with inadequate planning. We planned for enough fuel for a continuous nonstop flight.
With the partial fuel load, we should not have added a spur-of-the-moment stop, or we should have refueled at Borrego Valley Airport. It is imperative to reevaluate and revise flight plans, especially after spontaneous changes.
We also did not follow proper sterile cockpit procedures. It is unrealistic to expect a flight crew not to have side conversations during trips; however, they must try to maintain a sterile cockpit during critical phases of flight.
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