The pilot was landing at a dirt airstrip near his residence in Surprise, Arizona, when his engine quit while maneuvering at a low altitude.
He landed the Jabiru in a field, perpendicular to the field’s furrows, resulting in the airplane coming to rest on its nose and sustaining damage to the propeller and nose landing gear, and substantial damage to the right wing.
According to the FAA air safety inspector, no fuel was found in the wing fuel tanks during a post-accident examination.
The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause: The pilot’s inadequate fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA037
This April 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.
Because it was a Jabiru powerplant, the off-airport landing resulted from pilot error fuel exhaustion…not the far more typical Rotax 503, 582, and 912 crash cause of mechanical failure. Hell, with most of the factory SLSA designs, you can’t even DO the Rotax factory-mandated preflight checks of clamps, hose conditions, and burping to accurately check fluid levels WITHOUT REMOVING the cowling, which few do, adding to the failure rate.
Surprise!!!! You can’t fix stupid.
Again: There is no reference to how the landing was made. Did he land where he wanted or was there just nowhere else to touchdown.
The accident occurred at touchdown. Loss of power just made landing necessary.
Every time I read one of these accident reports where the cause is fuel exhaustion I can’t help but think – what are these pilots doing with respect to monitoring their fuel available, e.g. do they monitor the fuel gauge and do they have one that is accurate (calibrated)? When they drive their personal ground vehicle do they glance at the fuel gauge regularly and pull into a gas station for more fuel when the level drops to a quarter of a tank or less or do they just keep going until the engine sputters to a stop from fuel exhaustion. It would seem that too many opt for the latter which I cannot understand because once we leave the earth and become airborne while ascending to some height above ground it’s merely a matter of time until gravity will win (gravity always wins) and to earth we will return. It would be best for our health and longevity if that return was fully under control so that the effects of gravity can be mitigated allowing us and our machine to remain in one piece and in good condition. That requires we closely monitor the fuel supply and get back on the ground when the remaining quantity reaches the regulation required minimum for VFR or IFR flight as the case may be. No excuses.
As a reader of this article I am amazed at how many incidents
of mishaps due to fuel starvation.
Do these pilots ( so called) not know where they are going
and the time to get there?