Once in a while you come upon a story that makes you say, “What was that person thinking?” O.K. What we really say is “Oh they were not thinking at all!” We have all heard stories of those little airplane pilots running out of fuel. This month I ran across two that just left me shaking my head.

The First Situation- A Cessna Citation II/SP (Single Pilot) took off on a 100 mile trip and believe it or not..After notifying ATC (Air Traffic Control) of low fuel, the pilot requested a diversion to Kingman, Arizona but before he could reach his new destination both engines flamed out. The aircraft landed gear up (remember what Larry said: Those who have and those who will!) on I-40 about half a mile short of the runway. The aircraft was on a flight without passengers from Chandler, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix, to Bullhead International, roughly 100nm northwest. The Citation was owned by Okay Doke Aviation. Needless to say not everything was not Okay Doke on that
flight! According to my Phoenix expert, this old boy was about 20 degrees right of course on this trip and darn lucky that the trucks on I-40 did not run him over.

The Second Situation- This sad one was in a King Air B90 twin engine turboprop. “A total loss of engine power due to fuel EXHAUSTION !!!” On a flight from Pontiac, Michigan to Boca Raton, Florida. The flight was a Lifeguard flight with seven people on board and full fuel tanks. (The Lifeguard designation is given to the flight if it has a medical patient on board or body parts for a transplant operation. These flights once airborne are given a heading direct to destination. No delays.) The aircraft at takeoff was 720 pounds over maximum takeoff weight. According to the NTSB final report: “the aircraft struck a building and power lines before coming to rest in a cluster of trees about a half mile short of runway 13. Using the airplane fight manual, investigators
calculated the fuel flow at 15,000 feet to be 524 pph (Pounds per Hour). Using ATC transcripts to calculate the actual time to climb (34 minutes instead of 24 minutes predicted for a maximum takeoff weight climb) and figured the King Air burned an extra 73 pounds of fuel (11 gallons) in the climb. Regardless, the flight manual showed the flight required four pounds (almost 1 gallon) more fuel than the aircraft had capacity for!!!”

No one survived this Lifeguard flight.

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