Most experienced CFI runs out of gas

"PaulH" wrote in message
om...
There can be plenty of reasons for this besides pilot error. A while
back one of my fuel drains developed a slow leak, and there are
probably a dozen other possibilities.

that is pilot error. You should be able to find that leak - 100LL leaves
stains. If it was so slow not to notice, then it should be slow enough not
to matter in a flight. There are few fuel problems that are not pilot
error.

"Richard Hertz" no one@no one.com wrote in message .net...
"PaulH" wrote in message
om...
There can be plenty of reasons for this besides pilot error. A while
back one of my fuel drains developed a slow leak, and there are
probably a dozen other possibilities.

that is pilot error. You should be able to find that leak - 100LL leaves
stains. If it was so slow not to notice, then it should be slow enough not
to matter in a flight. There are few fuel problems that are not pilot
error.

The engine could have been burning too much too. I once rented a 182
topped it will full tanks and flew from Sacramento to Santa Barbara
(about 2.5 hours). I leaned the plane out on the trip. When I landed
there was only a small amount of fuel left in the tank. No evidence of
staining anywhere. The engine seemed to run strong. The FBO ended up
selling the plane so I don't know what the cause was.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary wrote:

that is pilot error. You should be able to find that leak - 100LL leaves
stains. If it was so slow not to notice, then it should be slow enough not
to matter in a flight. There are few fuel problems that are not pilot
error.


The engine could have been burning too much too. I once rented a 182
topped it will full tanks and flew from Sacramento to Santa Barbara
(about 2.5 hours).

Yep, ain't no way you're going to see a fuel leak on my plane. The
plane itself is blue and you can't see the drains in flight (low wing).

A few years ago coming out of annual, we fired up the plane, shut it down
checked under the cowl. Took it out, test flew it, opened it up and
looked problems. The next morning, we departed for Oshkosh. The
fuel consumption was staggering (I computed afterwards it was about
60 gal per hours). We landed and found a rather severe leak from
the fitting going into the engine driven fuel pump. Fuel evaporates
pretty quickly, so you couldn't see any indication of it once the
engine was stopped.

We had a group participant here put his Cardinal down off airport
after a carb problem caused much higher than expected fuel burns.

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
The local news is reporting that a local CFI (with over 30,000 hours
of instruction giving since the early 1960's) ran out of gas just
short of the airport after picking up a P210 and flying back from
Texas to California. Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone.

Um, no. It happens to people who fly with too little fuel.


It will be interesting to see the final facts. Perhaps the
plane was burning way more gas than it should have (the plane had been
bought that day).

-Robert

"Richard Hertz" no one@no one.com wrote in message .net...
"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
The local news is reporting that a local CFI (with over 30,000 hours
of instruction giving since the early 1960's) ran out of gas just
short of the airport after picking up a P210 and flying back from
Texas to California. Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone.

Um, no. It happens to people who fly with too little fuel.

I'm glad you are more confident than I am. Do you fly a retractable too?

-Robert

I flew an Archer from BOI to TTD once, and allowing for the headwind, I
planned with 1 hour in reserve. Despite this, I found upon landing that I
only had 20 minutes left. The guages worked well enough that while I knew I
was low, I also knew I wasn't out, but finding out I had only 20 minutes
left was a shocker.

Turned out that this particular bird burned more fuel than it should for an
unknown reason (club plane). I wished I had known that BEFORE the flight.
Anyway, after it went through its next overhaul, it burned the appropriate
amount again.

Now I know why I never plan on landing with less than 1 hour in the tanks...

Dean

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
The local news is reporting that a local CFI (with over 30,000 hours
of instruction giving since the early 1960's) ran out of gas just
short of the airport after picking up a P210 and flying back from
Texas to California. Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone. It will be interesting to see the final facts. Perhaps the
plane was burning way more gas than it should have (the plane had been
bought that day).

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone.

A point that I make constantly to my students and to anyone else who will
listen. Never, not for one second, think that just because you are a good
pilot or an experienced pilot that you will not make mistakes.

(Robert M. Gary) wrote in
om:

The local news is reporting that a local CFI (with over 30,000 hours
of instruction giving since the early 1960's) ran out of gas just
short of the airport after picking up a P210 and flying back from
Texas to California. Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone. It will be interesting to see the final facts. Perhaps the
plane was burning way more gas than it should have (the plane had been
bought that day).

-Robert


Take a look at the AOPA Nall report. The accident rates with flight
experience drops until you reach about 2000 hrs, then it starts climbing.
Pilots with greater than 10,000 hours accounted for 10% of all the
accidents.

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
. 45...
(Robert M. Gary) wrote in
om:

The local news is reporting that a local CFI (with over 30,000 hours
of instruction giving since the early 1960's) ran out of gas just
short of the airport after picking up a P210 and flying back from
Texas to California. Boy, if it can happen to him, it can happen to
anyone. It will be interesting to see the final facts. Perhaps the
plane was burning way more gas than it should have (the plane had been
bought that day).

-Robert


Take a look at the AOPA Nall report. The accident rates with flight
experience drops until you reach about 2000 hrs, then it starts climbing.
Pilots with greater than 10,000 hours accounted for 10% of all the
accidents.




Maybe they get to relaxed and over confident?

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...


Maybe they get to relaxed and over confident?

It is called "complacency," but I think there is more to it than that. If
you play roulette long enough, sooner or later your number is going to come
up.