Real stats on engine failures?

(Captain Wubba) wrote in message . com...
Andrew Rowley wrote in message . ..
Why do you exclude fuel exhaustion, fuel contamination etc? Don't they
happen if you're IFR?

If you're IFR or at night it doesn't really matter WHY it stops.

Because I can control these problems. If I do a proper preflight, the
probability of fuel contamination is very, very low. If I do the
proper fuel calculations and check the fuel levels and carry proper
reserves, I'm not going to run out of gas.

"Cap",

Just curious.

When you fill the tanks after each cross country flight, do you
calculate the fuel you actually had remaining, and compare it
to your calculated fuel reserve?

If so, have they ever disagreed?

I really don't want to go there again either -- this topic has been
thrashed out previously and anyone who cares could go Google for it,
but there are a number of factors which make fuel calculations for
a GA aircraft somewhat more uncertain than most pilots would apparently
like to believe.

These uncertainties include:
*aircraft parked on a slope while refueling
*aircraft tachometer not calibrated and no fuel flow meter
*leakage of fuel in flight
*OAT colder than expected or charted and pilot doesn't compensate
*and so forth

We've had our "ulp" moment where we landed safely and fueled,
and while we had legal reserves we in fact had considerably
less fuel than our proper calculations and preflight checking
led us to expect (for one or more of the above reasons), and
it would have bitten us on the butt if we'd had to exercise
"Plan B".

I don't disagree at all with the philosophy that one should
exercise control to minimize whatever risks one can.

I just feel that it's a mistake to conclude that no pilot
who runs out of fuel in flight did so, or that no pilot
who does so will ever run out of fuel in flight.

Regards,
Sydney