The pilot was picking up the Cessna 210 for its owner after an annual inspection had been completed.
During his preflight inspection he noted that both fuel tank fuel gauges indicated that they were half to three-quarters full.
While he was checking the fuel selector valve he told investigators the “brittle plastic handle broke off” with the left fuel tank still selected.
He called the airplane owner to inform him of the situation and advised that he would add more fuel to the left fuel tank in order to make the anticipated 45-minute flight without switching fuel tanks.
He had 4 gallons of fuel added to the fuel tanks and acquired a small crescent wrench that he planned to use in lieu of the broken plastic fuel selector handle if necessary.
He departed and climbed to a cruise altitude of about 6,500 feet. About 20 nautical miles from the destination, he noted that the left fuel tank quantity indication was “bouncing between one-quarter and empty” and he decided to change to the right fuel tank for the remainder of the flight.
He was unable to use the crescent wrench to change the fuel selector valve position after several attempts.
About 2 nautical miles from the destination airport, while approaching the runway to land, the engine lost power completely and the pilot performed a forced landing to a field near Buckhannon, West Virginia.
The airplane nosed over during the landing and the aft portion of the fuselage, as well as the wing, were substantially damaged.
After the accident, recovery personnel reported that after lifting the airplane upright, they noted fuel staining around the fuel caps of both wing fuel tanks, that the right fuel tank was absent of fuel, and the left fuel tank contained only a trace amount of fuel.
They also operated the fuel selector valve with their own adjustable wrench (the broken fuel selector handle and the crescent wrench used by the pilot could not be located in the wreckage) and found that it operated normally.
Based on this information, it is likely that the loss of engine power was due to fuel starvation after the pilot exhausted all usable fuel from the left fuel tank and was unable to select the right fuel tank or that the pilot inadvertently moved the fuel selector to an intermediate position in his attempts to use a crescent wrench to adjust the fuel selector valve.
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. Contributing was the pilot’s decision to depart on the flight with an inoperative fuel selector valve.
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This February 2023 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.
These things keep happening over an over!! Most real pilots would know better. I have an A&P and many years in aircraft maintenance. I can’t hardly believe things have reached this point on both sides of the house!!
Why TO with an inoperative anything, especially a fuel device?
OTOH: Maybe if he had landed parallel to the furrows, instead of perpendicular to them…it would not have “nosed over”.
A lot of reports of people running out of fuel just short of the runway. I just read in a book that the Fuel Primer may be used in that situation.
The primer draws fuel from the gascolator, so if there is no fuel in the line and carb, there’s no fuel in the gascolator.
Why not go on both tanks Why select tanks in mid atr
The 210 doesn’t have a ‘both’ position.
I’ve asked this question before but never got an answer. Do owners sue maintenance shops for incidents such as this?
Regards/J
Applying common sense, the one at fault was not the maintenance shop; the narrative does not indicate the issue was communicated to them. The fault lies primarily with the PIC for ILLEGALLY conducting a flight with an inoperative fuel selector valve (which at least on my plane is a required equipment) and conducting what appears to be an incomplete preflight inspection (obviously he did not visually check the fuel levels… again!). He should have scrubbed the flight until all the issues were resolved.
The secondary culprit is of course the owner for requesting the fly to be completed despite the obvious problem with the fuel selector rather than arrange for appropriate repair before taking the airplane back. He should have contacted the A&P to have it repaired and reschedule the delivery until then.
Applying legal logic of course the one with the deepest pockets will likely get sued for some idiotic reason and there will likely be a settlement reached where the owner (and possibly the PIC) will get financially rewarded for their sheer stupidity and irresponsible behavior. And the rest of us will likely be burden with higher premiums and possibly additional FAA regulations going forward instead of removing all these stupid people that have no business operating an aircraft.
per FAR 91.3, the pilot is directly responsible and the final authority as to the operation of the aircraft. So, he is responsible for not getting the broken fuel selector repaired.
If he had added 12 gallons to the left tank, he would have completed the flight, and we’ no be reading about the crash.
Every fuel exhaustion or starvation accident costs each aircraft owner more in insurance premiums. We’re a small pool supporting stupid pilots.
OK, a big oops !. it has 2 , 32 gallon tanks !
So, a left tank being 1/2 full, would be 16 gallons. More than enough at 12-14 gph, for the flight. then adding 4 gallons, and it still wasn’t enough Obviously, these gauges were way off being anywhere close to accurate.
The only way to now the fuel level is to stick the tanks….use a wooden stick if necessary.!!
I never trust my Cessna gauges. I take off with full tanks a use a clock to monitor flight time.
A lot of links in this accident chain.
Why didn’t the A&P who did the annual inspection check the fuel selector for operation, and note the lever would fail ?
When the pilot found that the selector lever failed, ask the A&P to find a replacement ?
When the pilot decided to use a crescent wrench to move the selector, why didn’t he try it on the ground ? Or, maybe find a ‘visegrip’ locking wrench to replace the lever. ?
If adding 4 gallons to a tank moves the gauge reading from 1/2 to 3/4 , then there is approximately 12 in each tank… not enough for a 45 minute flight, if he can’t change tanks.
Since the selector valve does not have a ‘both’ position, fill both tanks to ‘full’ or 16 gallons , which would be enough fuel in the left tank for the flight.
Any ‘stick’ can be used to determine the relative fuel level in the tanks. The standard tanks are 32 gallons, 16 in each.
[ the fuel gauge is non-op on my tractor, so I use a wooden stick an note the percent of the fuel in the tank…inches of fuel vs tank depth….simple.]
He ran the left tank dry and couldn’t move the selector to the right tank…
So, more stupid pilot tricks….Sad.!!