The private pilot did not visually check the fuel level in the tanks before the personal cross-country flight, but estimated that there was sufficient fuel on board for a one-hour flight. The flight was expected to take 30 minutes.
About 15 to 20 minutes into the flight, the Bellanca 17-30A’s engine started to surge, and it then experienced a total loss of power.
Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful.
The pilot then attempted to circle to the north end of a nearby airport so he could land to the south instead of landing to the north with a light tailwind.
While on final approach, the plane contacted trees and terrain about 300′ north of the runway end at the airport in Overbrook, Oklahoma.
A post-accident examination revealed that the fuel system was intact. No fuel was found in the left wing tank, and 1/2 gallon of fuel was found in the right wing tank.
Probable cause: The pilot’s inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, and his subsequent decision to circle to the north end of the airport due to a light tailwind condition instead of making a downwind landing.
NTSB Identification: CEN16LA090
This January 2016 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.
Karma Karma. The comments criticizing the pilot. Yes he made a very bad decision not to check his fuel. Tell me that y’all haven’t made your mistakes also. All of us have. We were just lucky to have had a better outcome. Just my opinion.
Sam,
I, for one, have never failed to visually check the fuel in the tanks; climbing up on a ladder and looking in the tanks of my Cessna. I then turn on the master and verify the gauges are reading what I saw in the tanks.
Fuel and oil are the first things I check, then I go on to the reset of the pre-flight.
There is an old pilot phrase on the 3 most useless things in aviation;
– fuel in the truck
– runway behind you
– air above you
and the only time you have too much fuel, is when you’re on fire.
regards,
JimH.
Fwiw, hopefully more than 2 cents. One time I ran out of gas from the right tank about 30 minutes after take off in a low wing Piper. I switched tanks real fast and landed.
The damdest thing was I did visually check. Of course the gage showed low, and the opposite side was heavy. So I knew before the engine quit there might really be something wrong. But since I checked … I was stupid for not landing first.
It was an optical illusion inside the hanger. The full tank did not any different than the tank where the fuel was below the tab. Good thing I live where there are a lot of airports.
Ever since then I put my fingers in the fuel. Besides, I love the smell of avgas.
Your neck is on the line. Why in the name of all that’s holy don’t you look at the tanks. I hope you always fly solo, you’re too darn stupid to be trusted with anyone else’s life. Just plain DUMD!
BTW…I agree, turn in your license. Your drivers license too, you are too dumb to be trusted to drive around others.
Dear Bellanca pilot,
Please go to your local FSDO and turn in your pilot certificate. You are too stupid to fly.
More stupid pilot tricks.!
So, don’t check the tanks, don’t look at the fuel gauges….
20 minutes of fuel is about 5 gallons for the IO-520…..what a fool.!
I hope the insurance Co. denies any damage claim.