The pilot estimated that he departed on the 10-minute, 16-mile, local flight with one fuel tank about half full and the other tank about a quarter full. He did not recall which tank he had the fuel selector positioned to during takeoff.
During descent for landing, he observed the engine rpm decrease to between 500 and 600 rpm, at which time he declared an emergency.
He switched fuel tanks but did not remember which tank he selected or whether the engine lost total power.
The pilot made a forced landing on the roof of an industrial office building in Pomona, California. The pilot was seriously injured in the crash.
During examination of the airplane after it was recovered from the roof of the building, about 7.5 gallons of fuel was drained from the left wing, and about 1 quart of fuel was drained from the right wing. No visible contamination was observed.
The fuel selector was selected to the right tank position. Other than the absence of fuel in the right tank, examination of the airframe and engine revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal engine operation.
Further, the lack of rotational damage to the propeller was consistent with a loss of engine power before impact.
While atmospheric conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to carburetor ice, the physical evidence supports the position that total loss of engine power was due to fuel starvation.
Probable cause: The pilot’s mismanagement of the available fuel, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.
NTSB Identification: WPR16FA103
This May 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.
There wasn’t much fuel on board, but enough. On Pipers, the carb heat is often not used for approach and landing (it isn’t on that checklist). Some years ago after a number of incidents of carb ice on Pipers the FAA issued a letter encouraging Piper pilots to use carb heat more often. The pilot reported after loss of power he changed tanks but nothing else was reported – did he apply carb heat? According to the full narrative report regarding carburetor icing probability, “the airplane was operating in an area that was associated with moderate icing at cruise power, and serious icing at descent power”.
Student tom, Sez. A Carbureator can ice up in seconds depending on conditions, and post-crash there would be no trace of icing due to evaporation, the last paragraph tells the whole story there. Carb heat is used on most aircraft on descent, required or not it is a good idea.
Why do people play this game of chance with fuel? FILL THE TANKS BEFORE YOUR FLIGHT. Just do it.
I agree with that. No preparation for unforeseen events. Why do these people take the risk of not enough fuel? Even for short trips that is just plain careless. Those GA pilots need to be sent for remedial training while their license is suspended.
There are plenty of flights started with full tanks or fuel load at the tabs but if the pilot doesn’t manage tank selection properly, they will have the same result. The cause of the accident was attributed to fuel management, not fuel load at departure and it was confirmed to have nearly an hour’s worth of fuel when inspected post-accident. Carb icing may have been a factor, something unusual in the model. Fuel management and carb icing are important factors to be considered by operators of this model in the future.
If you takeoff with full tanks and do not switch tanks regularly you will have an imbalance issue long before fuel exhaustion. This accident is alleged to involve fuel exhaustion…which if due to a failure to switch tanks can easily be handled by switching to the tank with fuel in it. If you lose track of which tank has fuel then you are no better than the guy taking off with insufficient fuel for the flight.
Bottom line? There is NEVER an excuse to run out of fuel on any flight. By definition a PIC is responsible to make every flight with enough fuel.
It’s so hard to really gauge the amount of fuel in a Cherokee tank just by looking inside unless the fuel is as the tabs or higher. Why not fill up to at least the tabs before going flying?
That would have been to hard
I do not understand why any sensible pilot would not top off the tanks. At least like the comment said, to the tabs. If a malfunction were to occur, at least it would not be due to lack of fuel. That lack of care leads to putting other pilots in jeopardy because of your careless decision to not have enough fuel.