Latest NASA ASRS posting on E-AB emergencies

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Thermos
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Latest NASA ASRS posting on E-AB emergencies

Post by Thermos »

NASA just posted their latest ASRS summary, this time it's on E-AB emergencies.

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/c ... b_413.html

My favorite is the last one, titled “I Probably Should Have Told You…”. In case you don't want to surf out to the NASA site, here's the story -
I was providing transition training to a Private Pilot who had recently purchased the aircraft. The flight was to be just over two hours long. The evening prior I was with the owner and witnessed him refuel the aircraft with 20 gallons of fuel. I told the owner that there were already six gallons of fuel aboard based on our previous flying, our observed fuel burn of 8.2 GPH, and the fact that we started with full tanks and kept very careful track of fuel burned, added, or removed.

The next morning I arrived at the airport, watched the owner perform the pre-flight and asked him about our fuel state. He told me, “The gas is fine.”

We made an uneventful takeoff, climbed to altitude for a short cross-country trip so he could practice descents and perform traffic pattern work. We departed for a second airport using the same training profile and then headed back home.

Approximately 16 miles from the airport at 2.1 hours into the planned mission, the engine coughed. The owner correctly reacted and switched fuel tanks using the proper procedures. I remarked to him that the event was strange because according to my watch we should have a little over eight gallons of fuel remaining.

At this point the owner said, “Oh.” I asked, “Oh what?” He tells me, “I probably should have told you before, but early this morning before you got to the airport, I drained eight gallons of gas out of the airplane into my gas cans.” The owner told me he had been concerned that we might be too heavy with so much gas on the airplane. He had no explanation for why he did not tell me that he had removed fuel from the airplane.

Concerned that we could experience fuel exhaustion, I opted to make a precautionary landing in a field about 12 miles northwest of the airport. The landing was uneventful.

The owner refueled the airplane with the eight gallons he had removed and I flew the aircraft back to the airport.
Oops...
Dave Setser
Avionics, Firewall Forward
http://www.mightyrv.com
Putting the "slow" in slow-build since 2004

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