Flight Training - October 2012 - 43

ACCIDENT REPORT

Dan Namowitz
FUEL MISMANAGEMENT claims an average of six aircraft every month, according to the Air Safety Institute.

TIME TO REREAD THAT POH?

LESS THAN TOTAL RECALL

PILOTS ALSO BETRAY GAPS IN THEIR SYSTEM KNOWLEDGE IN NOT-SO-SUBTLE WAYS—SUCH AS BY HAVING AN ACCIDENT.

of usable fuel for the two-hour, 15-minute flight,” the report said. “He also indicated that the airplane’s average fuel consumption was eight gallons per hour.” The pilot performed a preflight and said the fuel gauges indicated “about three-quarters full, which he believed to That was the National Transportation be about 20 to 30 gallons of fuel. During The pilot had owned the airplane for Safety Board’s conclusion when a Piper climbout, the oil door on the engine cowlabout eight years, accumulating “1,650 Arrow retractable single lost electrical hours of flight time in the make and model; ing opened, and the pilot returned to the power and experienced a main-gear coldeparture airport to close it. After landing, however, the pilot could not successfully lapse on landing in Culpeper, Virginia, on the pilot taxied to the ramp to secure the perform or articulate the emergency gear October 6, 2011. door and then departed again.” extension procedure. The pilot was also Losing electrical power during deparThe flight “was uneventful, but, when unable to locate the emergency landing ture, the pilot decided to return to the the airplane was on a gradual descent gear extension procedure in the pilot’s airport. about six miles from the destination operating handbook.” “On the downwind leg of the traffic airport, the engine lost total power. The NTSB’s determination of the probpattern, the pilot moved the landing gear The pilot attempted to continue to the able cause was “the pilot’s inadequate lever to the down position but did not see destination airport, but the airplane knowledge of the airplane’s emergency the three green lights or hear the landgear extension procedures, which resulted descended into trees and impacted the ing gear extend,” said the NTSB online ground in a residential area, resulting in in his failure to successfully perform a accident summary. “He then called a main- manual extension of the landing gear.” substantial damage to the fuselage, wings, and empennage. A post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tanks were not breached; recovery personnel removed a total of 1.5 gallons of fuel from the airplane.” tenance facility located at the airport and Noting no engine anomalies preventing A pilot and passenger were injured asked them to verify if the landing gear normal operation, the NTSB commented October 17, 2011, in Atlanta, Georgia, was down while he performed a low pass on the pilot’s systems knowledge: “The when a Cessna 172F ran out of fuel six over the runway. The maintenance person- miles from the destination and crashed in pilot believed that the airplane had a fuel nel indicated that the gear was not down; capacity of 42 gallons. According to the a residential area. The pilot believed the the pilot attempted an emergency gear owner’s manual, the airplane had a fuel aircraft held more than an hour’s worth extension procedure. After another low capacity of 39 gallons, of which 36 gallons of fuel beyond what was needed for the pass, the maintenance personnel stated were usable.” flight. But a miscalculation and other that the gear was extended, and the pilot Probable cause of the accident was complications took their toll. landed the airplane. During the landing determined as “the pilot’s inadequate “According to the pilot, prior to deparroll, the right main landing gear collapsed, ture, he calculated that he had 3.5 hours preflight planning, which resulted in a and the airplane veered off the runway, total loss of engine power caused by fuel impacting a runway light, which resulted exhaustion.” Air Safety Institute: ADM Resources in substantial damage to the right wing.” Could your POH provide an insight, or A post-accident examination of the airrefresh a clouded memory about a perforGood decision making is about avoiding plane “revealed that the battery had been mance figure, emergency procedure, or the circumstances that lead to really tough removed, and, therefore, the reason for an other bit of vital information? choices. Check out the resources in ASI's Aeronautical Decision Making Safety Spotlight, electrical failure could not be determined,” which will help you avoid making poor choices Dan Namowitz is an aviation writer and flight the NTSB said, adding that “examination and hone your good judgment (www.aopa. instructor. He has been a pilot since 1985 and an and operation of the landing gear revealed org/asf/hotspot/decisionmaking.html). instructor since 1990. no anomalies.”

ilots reveal their systems knowledge, or betray its shortcomings, in subtle ways. A misconfigured short-field takeoff; sloppy go-around; or a flat, long landing hint at the need for more cockpit time, and more book time. Pilots also betray gaps in their system knowledge in not-so-subtle ways—such as by having an accident.

OCTOBER 2012 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - October 2012