The private pilot and a passenger were conducting a night cross-country flight. About 15 miles from the destination, the engine experienced a total loss of power.
The pilot attempted to restart the engine but was only able to obtain momentary engine power each time he pumped the throttle.
He then performed a forced landing to a field, during which the Piper 28-140 hit a tree and fence, resulting in injuries to both on board the plane.
A first responder to the accident stated there was a smell of fuel and the ground was wet at the accident site near Republic, Missouri.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed the left wing fuel tank was breached and contained no fuel. The right wing fuel tank was intact. The right tank contained no usable fuel, and the fuel selector was selected to the right tank.
It is likely that the pilot exhausted the fuel supply in the right tank and did not reposition the fuel selector to the left tank, so the engine experienced a loss of power due to fuel starvation.
Probable cause: The pilot’s inadequate fuel management, which resulted in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power during cruise flight.
NTSB Identification: CEN16LA079
This December 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.
Amazing how people jump on a subject without knowing the full story. Accidents happen, that’s why they are called accidents. If an airliner goes down, it’s never one issue or problem, it happens to be many issues on the day, not feeling good, fight with wife, dog bit him, etc. etc.
The point getting at is , you cannot jump to conclusions without knowing the full story.
Human Factors play many parts of the full story, I know, I thought HF at a major airline, and read through many accident reports. When you first read a report, you would say how the heck could that ever happen, but it does. Sad but true. Everyone is an expert second guessing everything and everyone.
It might be good if one were to read the NTSB report, the full report before passing judgment on this pilot.
Per the full NTSB report, the pilot had done a preflight and dipped the tanks to know how much fuel was in them. Then he added fuel sufficient to make it to the destination and have a reserve, based on what was already in the tanks (I’m assuming that the pilot was not flying at 100% power (9GPH) but was at a more reasonable 7.5 GPH which would have been about 110KIAS?).
The left tank had been breached in the crash and the first responders reported a strong smell of gasoline and that the ground was wet (presumably wet with 100LL).
Pumping the throttle got the engine to run, indicating that there was fuel in the carb and that the acceleration jets were working. But for the engine to just quit as if one had killed the mags, is not how most engines die when out of fuel in my experience. They will surge or “miss” or “cough” at least once.
The question now becomes, why wasn’t the engine getting fuel? Could it be that the pilot ran the right tank dry and then set the selector to OFF missing the left tank detent? Could it be that the aircraft had a faulty fuel selector that needed to be replaced (BTDT in a PA28-180).
NEXT, this plane should not have been flown unless the fuel gauges read correctly in flight (23.1337). So, the pilot knew to put in fuel on the basis of time — x gallons = y Minutes of flight and admitted the same.
I concur that this was a fuel mismanagement problem — but since nothing was said about the fuel selector, I can only suggest this may have been part of the problem.
What strikes me as odd in most of the “fuel starvation” stories that I read around the net, is that if basic airmanship was used, i.e., adhering to reserve requirements (remember, these are FAR not AIM items [again, compulsory versus advisory]) these would likely never happen. I concede the point of un-forcasted winds and other imminent changes in environmental conditions, but the primacy of fuel planning and the attention to minimal fuel reserves (which for me are more aggressive than my personal minima) should be # 1 in our minds. I’ve watched 1 in 2 pilots at our local airport show up, untie, jump in, start up and never once visually check the tanks. Basics save lives. Basics make good pilots. They are foundational to our experience, but they are seemingly the first to go. My two cents.
Running out of fuel at anytime is a gut-wrenching experience especially at nght. This person wasn’t a glider piolt, nor was he flying a glider. You can make a fridge Fly with enough speed, but the landing isn’t going to be pretty.
He made mistakes, no doubt it cost him, running out of fuel would eventually bring him down, physics or not, he needed more fuel to stay up, simple.
Again……… fuel starvation does not bring down an aircraft………… GRAVITY does….. does one notice that with GLIDERS, one does not run out of fuel.
Fuel starvation, because the PIC made decisions……….. a different story entirely……….. fuel starvation because of mechanical issues/failures……… a different story entirely………..
The laws of physics are in operation 24×7, 365… for eternity……….
The PIC is the problem here… the airspace between the ear drums……. but fuel starvation DID NOT BRING THE AIRCRAFT DOWN……… poor, poor headline….. physics brought the aircraft down after the PIC made certain decisions to allow the power plant to cease producing power and then the aircraft obeyed the laws of physics (Thrust, Drag, Lift, Weight (gravity)… the aircraft did not fall out of the sky, it became a glider, still obeying the laws of physics…………..
Poor headline………
How many times has this guy ran out of gas in his car and been stranded on the side of the road? Answer: Probably NEVER. Why? Because he checks the fuel gauge and pulls into a gas station when down to a quarter tank remaining. So why didn’t he do that in his airplane for which the result of running out of fuel is not merely a matter of coasting over to the shoulder and stopping and calling AAA but possibly resulting in death. Go figure!
It has never happened to me so I guess that’s why I don’t understand it. I just don’t understand how when you have fuel gauges that tell you how much avgas is in the fuel tanks, that you don’t look and say Gee I better move the fuel selector valve to the other tank. We are not talking about a small momentary lapse of concentration. That engine will not continue to keep you in the air without fuel. Perhaps someday they’ll make fuel management idiot proof. Meantime I hope I never fly with this guy.
Please don’t throw stones I said “move “not “remove”. It wasn’t a momentary lapse of concentration it was my ipad’s auto correct. Happy new year all.