The pilot was returning from a cross-country flight and planned to stop for fuel along the way. However, due to deteriorating weather conditions along his route of flight, he was unable to stop.
He then became distracted trying to avoid weather when the Cessna 177B’s engine lost power.
The pilot told investigators, “We should have landed at the nearest clear airport but got fixated on dodging rain clouds causing time-consuming maneuvers to go around the storms into headwinds and unaware of fuel reserves.”
He subsequently performed a forced landing to a field near Ivanhoe, North Carolina, and struck a ditch, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. He and a passenger sustained serious injuries in the crash.
Post-accident examination of the airplane’s intact fuel tanks revealed they were empty of useable fuel. Given this information, it is likely that during the unplanned deviations around weather, the airplane’s usable fuel supply was exhausted, which resulted in the total loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s inadequate preflight and inflight planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.
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This September 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
He still managedto land on the centerline, so there is that positive
That would be a good picture to include in all Private Pilot course texts to show what can happen with poor fuel planning.
All comments to-date below absolutely agree. Nobody can instill common (uncommon) sense in anyone else. It’s either inherent or taught by parents — or none of the above.
Regards/J
More pilots destroy perfectly good airplanes than all other factors combined. It seems you just can not teach judgement. People either have it, or not. Barring a catastrophic fuel leak, there is just NO REASON to run out of fuel in this country.
Just a repetitive case of an automobile driver lacking mental comprehension of aviation.
Well, another low time pilot fails to monitor his time in the air, and fuel use.
Being an ‘older’, low time pilot might be a factor, but running out of fuel is absolutely unacceptable.
My older Cessna has a mechanical, wind-up clock. After engine start, I wind the clock and set the time to ’12 oclock’. then in the air I can glance at the clock and if it ever shows ‘3 oclock’, I’m landing to refuel.!!….Simple !
Distractions make time fly-by for sure.