The pilot was conducting a cross-country flight when, about eight miles north of Wichita, his intended destination, he reduced engine power, pitched for level flight, and waited for indicated airspeed to drop below 174 knots to add 20° of flaps.
As soon as the drag was introduced, the Piper Aerostar 600A began to “buck back and forward,” and the two engines were “throttling up and down on their own,” he reported to investigators.
He noted that the right engine seemed to be “sputtering and popping” more than the left engine, so he decided to raise the flaps and shut down and feather the right engine.
He declared an emergency to air traffic control.
The pilot then noticed that the left engine was “slowly spooling down” and the airplane was not able to maintain airspeed and altitude.
He performed a forced landing to a flat, muddy wheat field about four nautical miles from the airport.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and to both wings, while the pilot was seriously injured in the crash.
An FAA inspector traveled to the site to examine the airplane. Flight control and engine control continuity were confirmed. The master switch was turned on and the fuel gauges showed a zero indication. There was no evidence of fuel at the accident site or in the airplane.
During the recovery of the airplane from the field, no fuel was found in the three intact fuel tanks nor in any of the engine fuel lines.
The pilot later stated that he ran out of fuel during the accident flight.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s improper fuel planning and management, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
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This July 2021 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.
C’mon Folks..!!!!!.
The pilot reported “minor” injuries…not “SERIOUS”.
Probably mostly to his pride.
His CFI-ME rating might take a hit though.
The comments of the FAA 30 minutes of fuel requirement being stupid are I think a little off base. If these people can’t plan 30 minutes of fuel do you really think that they would plan for an hour of fuel past the destination? As for the regulation, not all aircraft can carry a lot of extra fuel. It is about planning, not always carrying all the fuel you can. It also is not about ignoring regulations because “you know better”.
In the contiguous 48 states, there is no, zero, zip, nada, never a reason to ruin a perfectly good airplane because the dumb, incompetent, lazy, pilot with zero judgement ran it out of fuel.
Well, maybe if you spring a gushing leak, nahh, nevermind.
Never a reason!
Pretty easy isn’t it.
The main problem I have with the FAA 30 minute reserve is that it may cause inexperienced pilot to believe that it is safe to plan a flight to land with 30 minutes of fuel remaining. I wish they did not put that in the FARS. Regulations will never make up for lack of common sense. A pilot like this either had an extremely poor CFI or disregards advice of more experienced pilots. We’ve all met them.
So, this low time pilot wrecked a $250k aircraft because he thought that he had the VFR 30 minutes of fuel….really.? 14 gallons vs 165 max.
Why not add 20-30 gallons to be sure of sufficient fuel, $120- $180.
He indicated that the fuel gauges could not be trusted, so they used the fuel totalizer. This can be accurate , only if it is correctly calibrated…..maybe it wasn’t ?
Who would drive their car with only 30 minutes of fuel, maybe 1-2 gallons.? No one would.!!
The FAA VFR minimum fuel requirement of 30 minutes of fuel is stupid.!
In my Cessna, that’s 4 gallons, or about 1 inch of fuel in each tank.!
With 50 gallons usable, I plan on 2 hrs fuel remaining. That gives me 4.5 hrs of fuel, more than I can tolerate in the seat.!!
Pilot seriously injured? I get that it could be a hard landing and abrupt stop, But that cabin looks in amazingly good shape.
Maybe he wasn’t wearing his seat belt. Been known to happen. /J
Most older aircraft only had a simple lap belt installed, which doesn’t stop the pilot from impacting the yoke and instrument panel is a high ‘G’ stop.
Most of have retrofitted the front seats with 4 point shoulder harnesses, which hold the upper body from moving very far forward.
But the shoulder straps can still injure parts of the upper body in a crash.