The solo student pilot reported that, while on a cross-country flight, the weather deteriorated at the destination airport. He decided to complete a touch-and-go landing at an airport along the route and then return to the departure airport.
When he began the flight back to his original point of departure, the Diamond DA-20 had about 3/4 tank of fuel remaining, and a headwind was present.
About 10 to 15 nautical miles from the original departure airport, the fuel supply was exhausted, and the student pilot made a forced landing in a field near Payson, Utah.
During the forced landing, the right wing hit a tree and was substantially damaged.
Probable cause: The student pilot’s improper in-flight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
NTSB Identification: GAA17CA088
This December 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.
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I think that student will get a big “F” for fuel management after such a major foul up. I have seen plenty of incidents brought about by poor fuel management on these links. On all of them I have questioned the quality of their flight training where that should have been pounded into them. I think we know of one instructor now who might have taught them. This pilot new that the intended destination had bad weather and he did a touch and go at an airport when he should have stopped to check the weather and wait for better conditions and just maybe top off the tank. Also just the fact that a 3/4 full tank only got him back to around 15 miles from the destination kind of indicates a lack of fuel reserves as well. If winds were such an important factor in the incident then why does the report taken by the NTSB not include some information on enroute winds that the aircraft encountered. The best I could find was a report from a site 20 miles away where the surface winds were calm.
Oh and by the way I did a little bit of investigation and found this quote from a witness to the landing who went to his aid:
“He was fairly calm but he just said, ‘I did a stupid thing,'”
I think that says it all…