Fuelish

Our initial reaction to most fuel accidents is that some other idiot makes these terrible decisions, not us. But this is a flippant attitude that ignores the challenges we face flying an airplane out in the real world. Beating weather, landing at an airport without fuel, and stretching the leg another few minutes are all seemingly decent reasons not to refuel, and therefore push our luck. That number also includes fuel starvation accidents, which are often mechanical problems, and those can’t be ignored either. No, we must dig into the accidents and recognize our own shortcomings to ensure we don’t get caught up in these types of decisions ourselves. But, boy, it can be hard to relate.

Take the Cessna 150 with student and instructor on board who were out for a routine lesson in July 2022 in Harrah, Oklahoma. It didn’t take an experienced accident investigator to figure this one out. From the report: “The flight instructor reported that he and the student pilot departed the short turf runway with a low fuel load to practice landings at another airport. The flight instructor planned to refuel midway through the flight but forgot to stop for fuel, despite observing that fuel quantity gage indications were low during the flight. While the airplane climbed out during a go-around, the engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion.”

We have so many questions, starting with why would you depart with partial fuel, knowing you have to refuel during a presumed hour or two-hour long lesson? Why did the instructor ignore the gauges? Why did the student choose to fly with this instructor? It’s easy to brush this accident off as a stupid pilot trick, but imagine you were in a similar situation. You take off from a private airport without fuel, planning to land somewhere else to refuel during the lesson. It’s an odd choice, but not necessarily an unsafe one. However, you get busy doing takeoffs and landings, engrossed in the lesson, and never look at the gauges. Smart? No, but also easy to understand how it could have happened.

Or take the case of the Cessna Cardinal owner, who in his quest to save a buck, totaled his airplane. The plan was a bit nutty from the beginning. With only nine gallons on board (all in the left tank), he planned to depart for a one-hour flight back home, stopping somewhere along the way for fuel. He departed on the left tank only, against the advice of the pilot’s operating handbook, and it was also determined that he was using an incorrect fuel dipstick. Most importantly, the NTSB said he passed three other airports that sold fuel because he was hoping to get gas for 20 cents less per gallon. He crashed six miles from his chosen fuel stop.

There are so many ways this accident could have been avoided that it almost seems like the pilot was trying to run out of gas. How else can you explain so many boneheaded decisions? But when you dig into the facts just a little you realize he was departing from a private airport, likely without fuel, and the airports he passed weren’t exactly on his route and would have required a detour. Again, these aren’t excuses for poor decisions, but maybe they are explanations.

Finding records of fuel exhaustion accidents without forehead slapping moments is difficult, but it’s too easy to dismiss them all without considering how the pilot got into the situation. Many of us have landed somewhere expecting to get fuel, only to find it wasn’t available. What then? Or we get so familiar with an airplane we sort of forget about closely monitoring the fuel status, just assuming it’s going to work as it always has, burning what it always has. Or we plan for an hour of reserve but find ourselves having to shoot two approaches and divert to an alternate.

To avoid these largely avoidable accidents, stick to some hard limits, similar to and perhaps even more practical than weather minimums. The AOPA Air Safety Institute suggests an hour of reserve, which, unless you’re flying an unusual experimental or aerobatic airplane, is a good rule of thumb. Don’t be a cheapskate, just buy the more expensive gas. Within reason, don’t overfly your planned stop because you have a great tailwind, but always adjust when you have a headwind that’s bigger than expected. And if you ever find yourself needing fuel at an airport where none is to be found, figure it out on the ground.

Saving a few minutes or a few bucks is almost never worth it.

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