This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Upon arriving at the airport, I asked the FBO to fuel my PA-32. At their request, I allowed them to fuel the aircraft without me after hours.
During my preflight inspection two days later, I noted the fuel quantity indicators in the wings indicated full fuel in the inner tanks. I noted that no water was present via a fuel sample despite heavy rain the day before, and that the gas caps were present on both wings.
I was then distracted during my preflight inspection and did not remove the pilot side gas cap to visually inspect fuel level. The co-pilot side gas cap had previously been removed to observe fuel level in the tank.
Engine start, taxi, and run up were unremarkable. Shortly after takeoff, I noticed that the pilot side fuel cap had departed from the airplane and fuel was coming out of the wing at a tremendous rate. Fearing a severe weight imbalance, I Identified as an emergency and returned to land without further incident or damage.
Extensive search of the airport grounds failed to locate the missing gas cap. No damage was noted in the gas cap receiver.
I suspect that the gas cap was either damaged or installed incorrectly and the preflight inspection failed to uncover the fault.
Chain of events
Local airport staff removed both gas caps and fueled the plane unobserved. Pilot side gas cap was either damaged or incorrectly reinstalled after fueling. Preflight inspection was not specifically performed on the pilot side gas cap.
During takeoff, the gas cap came loose and departed from the aircraft. In-flight emergency was declared. Landing was successful without further incident or damage.
Human Performance Considerations
Other factors, such as lack of water in the fuel and fuel quantity indicators, gave the impression of properly installed fuel caps.
Other activities occurring around the aircraft during the preflight inspection provided distractions that prevented a full inspection of the aircraft.
Failure to remove and inspect the gas cap resulted with in-flight failure.
Primary Problem: Ambiguous
ACN: 1804917
I was interrupted during pre-flight when checking the oil level. I forgot to secure the oil access door. Saw it flapping during take off roll. I had plenty of time to stop. Now, I had to taxi to the end, shut down the engine, secure the door, re-start, taxi to the departure end and take off. All this because of a distraction. Now I have a sterile hanger for my pre-flight
Sorry but must Agree with H K Coopers statement .
“Chain of events” scenarios can lead to catastrophic non detectable, non recoverable failures. However, the term is mostly used in association with someone failing to do that which they were trained to do because it is assumed there will be discrepancies in the real world.
Primary problem is “ambiguous”? Sounds like being distracted is now an acceptable excuse for doing an incomplete preflight…..NOT!!