The Cessna 172 pilot reported that, about three miles from the destination airport, the engine experienced a loss of power.
During the forced landing to a field near Fresno, California, the 172 hit an unseen set of power lines before touching down in the field.
Both the left wing and the empennage were substantially damaged.
The pilot reported that, when the engine lost power, the left wing fuel gauge was indicating that the tank was empty and the right wing fuel gauge was indicating that the tank was 1/4 to 1/2 full of fuel.
Post-accident examination of the airframe revealed that the fuel system was not compromised, and no evidence of fuel was found in the airplane’s fuel system.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s improper fuel planning, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Identification: WPR15LA077
This January 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
One of the comforting features found on some high wing LSAs is the visual fuel quantity indicator. You can look up and see the amount of fuel remaining in the wing fuel cell on either side as if you were sticking the tanks.
Cessna 172 pilot with supposed skills in ADM and basic math, since you hold certificates, the steps to do to measure true fuel consumption:
1) Measure fuel or make sure the tanks are full.
2) Fly for less than 1/2 the assumed fuel range for the contents found in #1
3) Measure fuel left with a disptick.
Is it that hard to do?
I still say, that no matter how much training, how many hours are in your log book and how smart you think you are, its that little piece of mush between the ears called decision making process that lets us down, and we continue to allow it to do just that. Commercial airline pilots with the best of everything and schooling, they also continue to crash airplanes. Decision making is the most important part of any flight..!!!
clear indeed..proper decision making is the clear mark to a succesful flight… with no compromise of assumptions
Mr. Cessna 172 pilot,
turn your pilot certificates in to the FAA.
Always, always, always dip the tanks during preflight and use your watch to determine remaining fuel. How hard can that be?
I just had to reply to this articale , Just where was the the
flight planning that we were taught in flight school.
sounds that somebody lost that lesson .
Add “air in tanks” to altitude ABOVE and runway BEHIND not generally very useful.
And your comment helps us how?
Regs say that the gauges are to read empty when empty. His did not. NTSB didn’t note this. So NTSB tells us the pilot didn’t do proper fuel planning. While that may be, that the gauges didn’t drop towards empty probably mislead the pilot into thinking he had sufficient fuel.
So, could the sump drain on the right have been leaking and the pilot didn’t detect it (and he could have triggered it by sumping that drain)? Could have dumped the fuel out he thought he had. Did the NTSB check this? Doesn’t sound like it.
Would the NTSB have checked this if it were a 135/121/125 operation? You betcha. But do they really look at this for GA? Probably not.
The faa still uses morse code.
FUEL TOTALIZER
As i always say when this article repeats itelf, over and over and over and over.
True the gauge is to be calibrated to read “zero” when the tank is at unusable fuel level. That said, dipping the tank is the only sure way to know how much is in it before take off. Knowing that and average fuel burn you know how much time you have. Without an accurate measurement of fuel in the tanks to input into a fuel totalizer it will not do any good either. They subtract fuel flow from the start point set by the pilot to determine remaining fuel.
Brilliant!