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Refueling Retrospectives... (May 99)
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Fuel exhaustion and fuel mismanagement are common causes of engine failures and forced landings. A General Aviation (GA) pilot describes how he and his instructor had to make a forced landing, even after they obtained what they thought was the necessary fuel for their final leg home.
- My helicopter CFII and I preflighted the helicopter before...a training flight of about 1.5 hours. We "dip-sticked" the tanks and determined that we had approximately 28 gallons aboard. We expected to burn about 12.5 gallons per flight hour. I monitored our fuel state during the flight. The fuel gauge indicated we had about [5-7 gallons] of fuel for our return flight. The fuel gauge indicated a drop to almost zero while we were enroute. We made a precautionary landing at a private airfield just a few miles from our destination. We persuaded an airfield resident to turn on their fuel pump...There was no decimal on the gauge, no obvious 1/10-gallon indicator numerals. My CFII pumped fuel into...one tank until the fuel pump indictor read "6" and into the second tank until the indicator read "12."
While preflighting the helicopter again, we noticed that the fuel gauge still indicated zero. Because the gauge had historically intermittently indicated zero instead of the actual fuel state and because we thought we had just on-loaded 12 gallons of fuel, we disbelieved the fuel gauge, took off, and flew on to our destination. I was hover-taxiing back to the ramp when the engine sputtered and quit, requiring an unplanned emergency landing from a three-foot hover.
The fuel tanks were found to be completely dry, after a flight of only a few miles. Postflight checking of the tanks, fuel boost pumps, and lines revealed no leaks. I believe that we on-loaded only 1.2 gallons of fuel?not 12 gallons as we had thought. We should have taken the time to "dip-stick" the fuel tanks to be completely certain about the amount of fuel on-loaded.
The reporter paid the airfield resident $20, making that a very expensive gallon of fuel. Still, as the reporter concludes, That was one of the best buys I?ve ever made, since it allowed us to fly back to our airport before the engine quit on the ramp?rather than in the air, requiring a real autorotation to the ground.
Another GA pilot also made a precautionary landing when the fuel gauge did not jibe with the planned fuel burn.
- I gave the FBO instructions to fill both fuel tanks to 1/2 inch below the filler neck. I returned four days later, preflighted the aircraft, and looked in both Color fuel tanks?the level seemed lower than I had requested but not so low that I was suspicious. I departed...and noticed the fuel consumption was more than normal. The right tank ran dry soon after I changed over to it. I advised Center I was going to divert...but I became concerned that I might run out of fuel, so I chose a good looking pasture and made a precautionary landing. I called a [nearby FBO] for fuel. A farmer mowed a strip for me, and I took off and flew the 5 miles to [my diversion airport]. I have a billing account at the departure airport, so no fuel receipt was given to me, and my visual inspection did not clue me in to the fact that I had not been fueled. I should have used a measuring stick in the tanks.
Visual inspection of tanks, dipstick measurements, fueling receipts (when available), and fuel gauge readings should all concur. If any one is out of synch with the others, the situation warrants a manual fuel check to verify actual fuel status. |
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