Before he departed for a cross-country flight, the pilot asked the fuel servicing personnel to fill the Piper PA-32’s left fuel tank.
While en route and burning fuel only from the left tank, the airplane lost all engine power. The pilot executed a forced landing into a field near Hancock, Minnesota, which resulted in substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
During a post-accident inspection, the left fuel tank was found to be empty.
The pilot told investigators that he assumed all of his fuel tanks were full at the time of departure but did not confirm the fuel level by looking in the tanks or at the fuel gauges.
He also stated that his failure to verify the fuel quantity resulted in a fuel exhaustion event when the 6.6 gallons of fuel in the left main tank were consumed.
He did not use fuel from the right tank during the flight.
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power as a result of fuel starvation. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to properly manage the fuel on board the airplane and his failure to perform an adequate preflight inspection.
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This September 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.
It might help to have an interlock system like needing to attach one’s seatbelt before the ignition key would rotate. How about a dashboard checklist that required answering in the affirmative regarding basic pre-flight questions before the engine would crank to start? At least that would serve to remind the pilot to do the diligence. Of course, they could also lie and brush off the questions. One man’s idea, worth what you paid for it.
Regards/J
An interlock system, like a DUI on a car?
I know that many of us complain about these types of crashes. But what is the root cause?
Yeah, simply, you can’t fix stupid. But how many people get in their car and drive it until it runs out of gas?
So why is it we have ATPs that run aircraft out of fuel? Because they were flying dispatched aircraft and so fueling was done for them, for so long they forgot they are now required to do it themselves?
GA pilots generally don’t have this as an excuse. So are we missing something in/with BFRs? Should there be an emphasis on fuel management? Are CFIs rushing for airliner jobs and not covering fuel management sufficiently?
Or is it that we do not require, for a checkout, an oral based on the AIM or POH so that they know what the fuel burn is to know how much fuel to take on?
But something is wrong to have all these “fuel mismanagement” caused crashes.
The cause? To much writing after everything were told in the third sentence:”you can’t fix stupid”. That’s right and enough, Mr. Wylbur Wrong and should be said every day in this site in in the other’s ones related to aviation.
Another incident that didn’t have to happen. There are entirely too many of these reports involving insufficient fuel, and there is no excuse for them. Fuel tanks not only contain fuel….they contain “flight time”. $10 of extra fuel carried aboard may save the day!
Ok, this a ‘super stupid pilot trick’ !!!
he doesn’t monitor the refueling.
doesn’t visually check the tanks.
doesn’t even look at the fuel gauges during the flight.
Then he’s surprised when the engine quits.
he doesn’t switch tanks..?
he doesn’t try carb heat.
doesn’t remember if he used the boost pump on other flights.
This guy needs to give it up and try driving…and keep it fueled too.