The pilot reported that in cruise flight he positioned the Globe GC-1B’s fuel selector to the right auxiliary fuel tank and set a timer for 20 minutes.
He practiced private pilot maneuvers and then proceeded to an airport in Huntsville, Texas, for touch-and-go landings. He did not switch the fuel selector back to the main fuel tank because he did not notice the timer.
He completed one touch-and-go landing and during the initial climb, the engine experienced a total loss of power.
He pitched the nose down for a forced landing and the engine regained power momentarily.
The engine again experienced a loss of power, the airplane stalled, and hit the ground adjacent to the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot was seriously injured in the crash.
The pilot told investigators that he should have refueled the airplane before the flight, so he did not have to worry about fuel management.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s inadequate fuel management which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This April 2022 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.
Only time ya got too much gas is when ure on fire!
Fuel flow instruments help & are relatively inexpensive as aircraft equipment goes. I had a Grumman AA1A for years which had sight tubes on the sides of the cabin. This system appears to be simple however it is not the greatest. During flight, the fuel sloshes around which can indicate a full tank on one tank and zero on the other. Attempting to balance the airplane to straight and level for an accurate reading can be difficult even in light turbulence so I used to time fuel consumption to switch tanks every 30 minutes. After purchasing a JPI fuel flow instrument, life changed for the best. It accurately provides total fuel on board, fuel flow in gallons per hour, total gallons used and indicates a flashing alarm as to reserve fuel remaining per the parameters you program into the system. It can be connected to an onboard GPS to indicate fuel remaining to reach your destination. Best investment I ever made and accurate to within tenths of a gallon. As a backup, I still used my digital timer and switched tanks every 30 minutes.
In case a person thinks only dummies run out of fuel, that it could NEVER EVER EVER happen to you, you have NO IDEA HOW ANYONE COULD BE SO DUMB, blah blah blah:
On September 12, 2023, the Airbus A320 with 167 people onboard was forced to land in a Russian wheat field after the aircraft ran out of fuel while diverting to Novosibirsk Airport (OVB).
Bonus: the airline is scrapping the jet: https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/ral-airlines-dismantled-airbus-russia-field
he didn’t run out, just the tank he was feeding from…starvation, fuel all gone, exhaustion
I ask this question frequently, but nobody ever responds. Must be a good aviation reason but I don’t know what it is. Question: Why aren’t GA airplane fuel tanks piped in parallel so they empty simultaneously? Would be better for wing mass balance and no worry for the pilot to remember to flip the tank switch — same as the 1947 Volkswagon. Why not? Beats me.
Regards/J
With a low wing the fuel is pumped and so it’s a difficult and complex design to not have air pulled into the lines when the pickup is unported. With a high wing aircraft with gravity feed systems it is much easier. Many Cessna aircraft have a “both” position for the fuel selector. Others like the Piper Tri-Pacer don’t and require a specific tank,left in this case, for taking off or landing. This is due to the fuel line routing around the door, it is possible to get at an angle where adequate fuel flow can’t be maintained from the right tank so it is used only for level flight. Hope this helps.
I’ll try to answer you ( Why aren’t GA airplane fuel tanks piped in parallel so they empty simultaneously?).
What do you know about plumbing? How do you control so that air can’t be introduced to the fuel lines so that one does not starve the carb/injector pump for fuel? All it takes is for one tank to have its fuel port get uncovered by banking or angle of attack, and you are sucking air into the fuel line. Simplest explanation I can give.
Hope this helps you understand the problem. Think in terms of bank angles, dihedral and related. Flight is much more complicated than earth bound vehicles.
Worst case I can think of out side of a spin — What happens if you suffer an upset and all fuel ports are uncovered so that you have air in the system that has to get purged? How long to engine loss and then restart?
The Ercoupe, designed in the 1940s, had a fuel system that drew from both wing tanks and did not require switching tanks. It worked very well, and it was a low-wing airplane. So yes, it is definitely possible to do it. As to why other manufacturers haven’t done it, my guess is like most things it probably comes down to money. The Ercoupe system is more complex and I assume more expensive. But I think an airplane’s fuel system should be made to accommodate the pilot, not the other way around.
I’ll try to answer your question;
– High wing aircraft can use gravity to flow fuel to the fuel selector valve from both tanks, and to the carburetor. Fuel injected engines add a mechanical fuel pump and an electric boost pump. If the tanks don’t vent equally, there can be a large difference in fuel between them.!
The Cessna 150/152 has a simple fuel ‘on’/ ‘off’ fuel valve, which, hopefully flows fuel equally from each wing tank….but not always.
– low wing aircraft do not have the gravity-fuel pressure to flow fuel from the wing tanks to the carb., since they are close to the same vertical position. So, a mechanical pump pulls fuel from one of the tanks.
The tanks cannot be connected in parallel, since one will be empty of usable fuel before the other, and the fuel pump will pull air from the empty tank vs fuel from the other.
-as was mentioned, the Ercoupe has a header tank in the lowest point of the fuselage, with both wing tanks able to gravity flow fuel to it. The mechanical pump then pulls fuel from the header tank….so, a simple, not too costly solution, just add a small 5-6 gallon header tank.!
Some low wing aircraft , like the Bonanza, can have 6 fuel tanks, main, aux, and tip tanks, for long range flight. Managing the fuel can be quite a chore
BTW, the VW Beetle has one fuel tank. The fuel selector ‘main’ position draws fuel from about 1 inch above the bottom of the tank.
The ‘reserve’ position opens a port at the bottom of the tank, so when the engine starts to quit, the remaining 1-2 gallons gets you the a gas station…hopefully.
[ I drove a ’69 beetle for years. ]
Actually the Ercoupe header tank was above the engine and gravity fed fuel to the engine. Fuel from the two wing tanks was pumped up to the header tank, and once that tank was full, excess fuel flowed back down to the wing tanks.
Yes, you’re right…..my oops.
So the mechanical pump gets gravity flow to it for the connected tanks ?
I’m not sure I understand the connected tanks.?
The wing tanks are interconnected, and the fuel pump draws from that line using a T fitting. The overflow line on the header tank goes back to one of the wing tanks. So the system is not overly complicated, but it’s still probably more expensive than the “normal” low-wing systems which don’t require header tanks, overflow lines, and interconnect lines. But no one ever crashed an Ercoupe because they forgot to switch tanks.
I’m sorry for this sad occurrence, especially the pilot’s injuries, but I don’t think there’s a more stupid and needless way to crash a perfectly good airplane than to starve the engine of fuel. Also sad is the fact that all of the rest of us share the cost of this stupidity in the form of higher Insurance costs. Why is it apparently SO difficult for so many pilots to routinely follow even the simplest of SOPs???
In an environment with noise and vibrations, one needs something other than a watch to remind one of a mandatory tank switch. I’ve known people to use a kitchen timer. One can set a timer in their EFB for it to alarm/alert for tank switch.
And it is of note that for that airplane excess fuel goes into the main tank, which means you use the main tank for takeoff before going to aux tanks. In other aircraft, if they have it, it may go into the left main tank (I think that is done with certain Beech models).
But this is an important lesson. And one must find something that gets your attention so you know you have reached a limit where you must take an action: Tank switch, Land and get fuel (you have reached the point where you are on reserves), or similar. It is too easy to get distracted from things like this while handling other tasks, such as answering ATC, handling a pax issue, etc.
One never knows what will happen in flight? I always have full tanks for a long flight and at least tab fuel for locals… Learned early in my beginning to fly… Switch tanks every 30 minutes, keep it balanced… Fly SAFE!
Re-fueling before the flight was the pilot’s only safety recommendation. How about using the pre-landing checklist? And maintaining a safe glide speed. Looks like he had a pretty good emergency landing area. Too bad it wasn’t a lesson learned without damage or injuries.
There is nothing more useless that the runway behind you, the altitude above you, and the fuel in the bowser……. Something that was once said to me
Said to ALL of us. And posted here almost daily.
Another needless accident!
We wouldn’t see so many accidents like this if they were not easy to make. My take away is fuel before take off! I have a little Swift, so my sympathy looms large. I am glade this pilot survived, and I hope he and his plane make a full & Swift recovery.
Yup, another aircraft wrecked for the want of a few gallons of gas.
[ or not switching tanks to one with fuel in it to prevent the engine from stopping at low altitude. ]
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust (yeah)
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
— Queen