AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2017 - 96

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

The little voice inside me
Bad gauges or empty fuel tanks?
B Y D O R E N W E S TO N

96 | AOPA PILOT July 2017

Could I make it to Bradford? Not a chance. Although
I had no way of knowing at the time how serious the
condition was, this was already a fuel emergency.
I searched for a closer field. There, a small airport,
with fuel, just a few miles ahead. I flew the pattern to
an easy touchdown, taxiing to the ramp.
The first thing I did after shutting down was climb
up onto the step to inspect what I was convinced was
a fuel cap I had failed to secure. The caps were tight. I
climbed down, inspecting under the wing, paying special attention to the sumps. All normal, by the look of
things-but then again, there was no fuel in the tank, so
how could I be sure? Upon inspection of other areas, I
found blue staining at the left trailing edge of the wing
and onto the fuselage, directly in line with the fuel cap.
Hmmm, I thought, there may be a fuel leak.
I kept an eye on the fuel truck's fuel meter as the
lineman filled the left tank. If memory serves, it stopped
right around 22 gallons. That tank was dry! As he began
filling the right tank, I considered that I may have had
five or 10 minutes of powered flight time left.
Years later I calculated the approximate rate of
fuel evaporation for this flight. The flight had lasted

JAMES CAREY

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, a man contacted my flight school
asking if one of our instructors would ferry his Cessna
Skyhawk from Manassas, Virginia, to the airplane's new
owner in Niagara Falls, New York. My boss asked me if
I would do the honors. Naturally, I agreed.
The seller, Henry, and I agreed over the telephone
that the following weekend would be perfect timing
for the trip. Subsequent weather checks and chats with
flight service briefers revealed the approaching weekend increasingly less promising for the flight.
Henry was anxious to get the airplane airborne.
There had been several prolonged maintenance delays,
so delivery of this airplane was already long overdue.
As the departure time drew nigh, I was coming under
increasing pressure to fly in heavy IFR all the way to
the destination. Anxiety gnawed at me.
On the telephone Friday, then again Saturday,
Henry pressed me to set out IFR. Each time he urged
me, my anxiety worsened. "I am not going," I told him,
"with the weather as bad as it is."
"If it clears by Sunday afternoon, would you still
be willing to go?" I said yes, but added, let's see how it
all plays out. Around noon on Sunday, the heavy, low
overcast did clear off, leaving higher, scattered, sunny,
breezy skies. Driving to Manassas Airport, I asked
myself some searching questions. What was I afraid of
that would make me not want to fly in the soup? After
all, I am an instrument-rated flight instructor with
years of experience teaching. Was it fear or was something else driving my reticence?
Arriving at Manassas, I met Henry as he was readying the Skyhawk for the trip. We chatted briefly. The
Skyhawk was in perfect working order, Henry assured
me several times, so there should be no issues. After a
thorough preflight inspection, I departed.
Navigation by VOR all the way to Niagara Falls
Regional Airport seemed a breeze. This flight was bordering on the routine-a dangerous word in aviation.
Some 20 miles south of Bradford Regional Airport,
another scan of the instruments revealed the left fuel
needle not bouncing on "E," but well past it, with the
right needle not far behind. Suddenly alert, I kicked
myself for not watching my fuel more carefully. What
could have gone wrong? I took off with full tanks, easily enough to make Niagara Falls with fuel to spare. The
winds were not that strong.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2017