Pilots: Keep Your Power Tank Topped Off

[TXRider60]

TX News reported that an aviator had to land his small plane on a highway... Explained that his plane "just ran out of power."  Monte and some of the other flyers on this forum can explain if planes have separate tanks for fuel...and power..?

[montmil]

Sure they do! One for 100LL and the other for Jet A. Switch tanks in flight for big fun. Now, where's that highway?   Monte

[Bob_Roller]

Most light aircraft, have two separate independent fuel tanks, you have a selector valve to switch between them .

Usual method, is to run off of one tank until it's at about half, then switch to the other tank, to make sure you can get fuel from it, instead of waiting until it's almost empty, then realize you can't get your remaining fuel out of the other tank .

Running out of fuel, is surprisingly not too uncommon in the general aviation community, just because someone has a pilot's license, doesn't mean they should have one .

Natural selection is quite effective in the aviation field !!!!!

[montmil]

Running out of fuel, is surprisingly not too uncommon in the general aviation community, just because someone has a pilot's license, doesn't mean they should have one.

The FAA and the NTSB concurr that the top rated causes of general aviation fatalities include:
  • Fuel Management- The PC way to say, "The fool ran outta fuel."
  • Flight into IMC and Controlled Flight into Terrain- In plane speak, "The non-instrument rated fool flew into weather and soon afterwards impacted the ground."

   Just this week, a Dallas area pilot, with his very attractive blonde lady friend & co-worker onboard, stuffed his newly purchased amphibian single-engine bird into a lake just south of my home. After takeoff from a conventional runway, pilot evidently failed to retract the landing gear into the floats prior to showing his passenger the "joys" of water operations. She died. He was rescued by two fishermen.
   Area news broadcast pics of the victims and the aircraft recovery operation.   

This site is where the NTSB aviation accident reports are published. Investigation reports and later, the probable cause/s. Check the Monthly Reports link.
  
NTSB-Aviation Accident Database Query  http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp

Monte

[Semper Gumby]

Oops.  Killed the Blond?  Not Good!  

Three things you can't use in Aviation.

1) Altitude Above you.
2) Runway behind you.
3) Fuel in the Gas truck.

Y'all be careful please.   8-)