Pilot crashes after mistaking voltmeter for fuel gauge

I would prefer not to share the same sky with that "pilot."
 
Did anyone ask him what he thought about how the plane didn't seem to be using any gas during the flight?
 
Although I admire his candor and lack of ego. If I had done something that boneheaded, and I've had my share, I never would have admitted it. I would have had an explanation that involved blinding sun glare and aliens. At least.
 
To go down a layer: is this a sport pilot thing where you approach an airplane for pre-flight and having no knowledge of it's fuel status all you do is look at a gauge? I mean, even if he had looked at the right gauge, is that how he would normally verify how much fuel was onboard?
 
I was on a dual cross country with a student when he mis-identified the amp meter as the oil pressure gauge.

Which caused a few seconds of excitement since it was also a night flight.

During the after flight debrief he told me he saw a needle on ''0" and for some reason he could not explain he thought it was the oil pressure.
 
Silvaire said:
To go down a layer: is this a sport pilot thing where you approach an airplane for pre-flight and having no knowledge of it's fuel status all you do is look at a gauge? I mean, even if he had looked at the right gauge, is that how he would normally verify how much fuel was onboard?
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No, it's not a sport pilot thing. It's a stupid pilot thing.
 
Silvaire said:
To go down a layer: is this a sport pilot thing where you approach an airplane for pre-flight and having no knowledge of it's fuel status all you do is look at a gauge? I mean, even if he had looked at the right gauge, is that how he would normally verify how much fuel was onboard?
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I agree this is not a "sport pilot" thing, it's (probably*) a careless pilot thing, and I had the same thought.

* I doubt it's the case here, although I have no experience with this model of airplane, but you can't universally assume that you can check the fuel visually on all aircraft. Most of the airplanes I fly you can't. Anything with a long, thin tank - like a Piper Saratoga, Malibu, some twin cessnas, Baron, etc. There's no way to check the fuel visually, because there's nothing showing through the filler until it's almost full.

I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read. Not making excuses for the pilot here, he definitely should have pre-flighted properly and not taken off without knowing how much fuel is onboard, but I can see how a quick glance at the wrong gauge, combined with confirmation bias, could lead to this result - you see what you expect to see. Also, the pilot is 68 - typical age-related near-vision issues, maybe?
 
RussR said:
...I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read....
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As someone who has mixed up similarly-shaped controls more than once, I think you have a point there.
 
RussR said:
I agree this is not a "sport pilot" thing, it's (probably*) a careless pilot thing, and I had the same thought.

* I doubt it's the case here, although I have no experience with this model of airplane, but you can't universally assume that you can check the fuel visually on all aircraft. Most of the airplanes I fly you can't. Anything with a long, thin tank - like a Piper Saratoga, Malibu, some twin cessnas, Baron, etc. There's no way to check the fuel visually, because there's nothing showing through the filler until it's almost full.

I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read. Not making excuses for the pilot here, he definitely should have pre-flighted properly and not taken off without knowing how much fuel is onboard, but I can see how a quick glance at the wrong gauge, combined with confirmation bias, could lead to this result - you see what you expect to see. Also, the pilot is 68 - typical age-related near-vision issues, maybe?
Click to expand...

Yesterday I measured our cooktop with a yardstick. It was exactly the length of the whole stick. I told the appliance man on the phone that I needed a cooktop that was 30” wide.

I KNOW a yard is 36”, I’m a mechanical engineer for Pete’s sake. Who knows where that brain fart came from. So I am reluctant to judge anybody for making stupid mistakes. I will say though that getting the wrong size cooktop is way less risky than flying an airplane and so one would hope to put more focus into preflighting.
 
RussR said:
I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read. Not making excuses for the pilot here, he definitely should have pre-flighted properly and not taken off without knowing how much fuel is onboard, but I can see how a quick glance at the wrong gauge, combined with confirmation bias, could lead to this result - you see what you expect to see. Also, the pilot is 68 - typical age-related near-vision issues, maybe?
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Absolutely. I think there were likely a chain of issues here:
  • bad U/X design on the panel (it's an attractive layout with all the gauges looking the same, but not very smart for safety)
  • bad training/expectations (if the pilot thought they could use the fuel gauge that way, they probably hadn't moved past thinking of the plane as just a flying car)
  • human factors (stress, confirmation bias, near-vision, etc, as Russ suggested)
They must have all lined up on this one.
 
Rushie said:
Yesterday I measured our cooktop with a yardstick. It was exactly the length of the whole stick. I told the appliance man on the phone that I needed a cooktop that was 30” wide.

I KNOW a yard is 36”, I’m a mechanical engineer for Pete’s sake. Who knows where that brain fart came from. So I am reluctant to judge anybody for making stupid mistakes. I will say though that getting the wrong size cooktop is way less risky than flying an airplane and so one would hope to put more focus into preflighting.
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Where's the problem? It'll fit with plenty of room to spare.
 
Rushie said:
Yesterday I measured our cooktop with a yardstick. It was exactly the length of the whole stick. I told the appliance man on the phone that I needed a cooktop that was 30” wide.

I KNOW a yard is 36”, I’m a mechanical engineer for Pete’s sake.
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According to this flowchart, there's no requirement for knowing how to measure.
7214525854_733237dd83_z.jpg
 
Bill said:
Army corollary: If it moves, shoot it. If it doesn’t, paint it!
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The WWII version I read about from the Royal Navy was for the parade square ashore: "If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't, paint it white". If the US Army substituted "shoot" for "salute," you must have had to find a lot of replacement officers
 
Ah an Evektor Sportstar, I’ve been needing some parts for mine. :D
 
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RussR said:
I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read.
Click to expand...
Well the solution to that is more gauges.
2-image-30.jpg
 
RussR said:
I agree this is not a "sport pilot" thing, it's (probably*) a careless pilot thing, and I had the same thought.

* I doubt it's the case here, although I have no experience with this model of airplane, but you can't universally assume that you can check the fuel visually on all aircraft. Most of the airplanes I fly you can't. Anything with a long, thin tank - like a Piper Saratoga, Malibu, some twin cessnas, Baron, etc. There's no way to check the fuel visually, because there's nothing showing through the filler until it's almost full.

I also do have to wonder if there is a humans factors consideration at work here with this type of panel - each of those 6 gauges looks exactly the same, so I can see how it could be mis-read. Not making excuses for the pilot here, he definitely should have pre-flighted properly and not taken off without knowing how much fuel is onboard, but I can see how a quick glance at the wrong gauge, combined with confirmation bias, could lead to this result - you see what you expect to see. Also, the pilot is 68 - typical age-related near-vision issues, maybe?
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Both rudder pedals look the same, so it’s hard to know which one is which.
 
Rushie said:
Yesterday I measured our cooktop with a yardstick. It was exactly the length of the whole stick. I told the appliance man on the phone that I needed a cooktop that was 30” wide...
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oookay, fess-up time...

I was restoring the headliner in my classic Alfa Romeo so I went to the fabric store, I think it's called Joann's. Anyway I found the perfect fabric and took it up to the counter where the lady asked me "how much?" So I said "six oughta do it" Well you know fabric is sold in yards so, even though I watched her lay it out right in front of me, It wasn't until I was walking into the garage with this HUGE bag of cloth did I think "Hey, I got way too much of this stuff"
 
Silvaire said:
oookay, fess-up time...

I was restoring the headliner in my classic Alfa Romeo so I went to the fabric store, I think it's called Joann's. Anyway I found the perfect fabric and took it up to the counter where the lady asked me "how much?" So I said "six oughta do it" Well you know fabric is sold in yards so, even though I watched her lay it out right in front of me, It wasn't until I was walking into the garage with this HUGE bag of cloth did I think "Hey, I got way too much of this stuff"
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Haha! Yes they sure do (sell it in yards.) I used to go to Joann’s a lot when the kids were little, I made clothes for them as well as myself. Sewing is basically a construction project. Measuring, cutting and putting things together in the right order.
 
Salty said:
Both rudder pedals look the same, so it’s hard to know which one is which.
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Ha ha! But sometimes controls can be almost comically too similar.

In a Citabria, Decathalon or Scout (I assume) the throttle and the trim - and carb heat - are relatively close together and have a similar rounded profile to the touch. I’ve known pilots to rest their left hands on or near the trim in cruise. I’ve also known pilots to accidentally apply full nose down trim when they meant to give full throttle. Rare, but poor design makes such things more possible.

citabria_left_interior.jpg
 
Daleandee said:
I'm a sport pilot and I'm near smart enough to visually check the fuel before leaving the ground.

As hard as it may be for some to conceive I even did this when flying ultralights! Oh! The humanity!
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The minimum fuel that you can visually verify in mine is ten gallons. Never leave home without at least that much.
 
One of the human factors glitches I sometimes experience when flying a different plane is throttle throw. I get used to a certain distance from idle to max flying the same plane. No problem if the “new” airplane has a shorter throw but I’ve been known to not get max power on a T&G until brain overcomes muscle memory.

Cheers
 
I think we are probably being a little too harsh on this guy. It sounds like he was not properly instructed to include the fuel gauges in his scan during training. There is some blame to go around here.

The second thing I want to raise is, despite hundreds (thousands?) of pilots running out of fuel, why don't we yet have an alarm that starts blaring when the fuel drops below a certain threshold? We have a gear horn, stall horn, and annunciators for other things like electrical discharge, oil pressure etc... why have we not developed a simple alarm for fuel yet? Is it because we assume only idiots run out of fuel?
 
sarangan said:
I think we are probably being a little too harsh on this guy. It sounds like he was not properly instructed to include the fuel gauges in his scan during training. There is some blame to go around here.

The second thing I want to raise is, despite hundreds (thousands?) of pilots running out of fuel, why don't we yet have an alarm that starts blaring when the fuel drops below a certain threshold? We have a gear horn, stall horn, and annunciators for other things like electrical discharge, oil pressure etc... why have we not developed a simple alarm for fuel yet? Is it because we assume only idiots run out of fuel?
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IIRC, the G1000 has a low fuel alert. Developing a "simple" alarm isn't that simple. The fuel sloshes around in the tank and the sender float follows it, so even at 1/3 tank you could get the alarm sounding or flashing. You'd need a damper circuit to average out the varying voltage so that the signal would be consistently low before the alarm sounded. Most fuel gauges are already damped somewhat by design, but that wouldn't help the alarm circuit.
 
sarangan said:
The second thing I want to raise is, despite hundreds (thousands?) of pilots running out of fuel, why don't we yet have an alarm that starts blaring when the fuel drops below a certain threshold? We have a gear horn, stall horn, and annunciators for other things like electrical discharge, oil pressure etc... why have we not developed a simple alarm for fuel yet? Is it because we assume only idiots run out of fuel?
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I think a modern engine monitor coupled with a PMA450b can do that.
 
FastEddieB said:
Ha ha! But sometimes controls can be almost comically too similar.

In a Citabria, Decathalon or Scout (I assume) the throttle and the trim - and carb heat - are relatively close together and have a similar rounded profile to the touch. I’ve known pilots to rest their left hands on or near the trim in cruise. I’ve also known pilots to accidentally apply full nose down trim when they meant to give full throttle. Rare, but poor design makes such things more possible.

citabria_left_interior.jpg
Click to expand...
The good news is, the effect is the same either way…push forward on the trim or throttle knob, & speed up. :rollercoaster:
 
Dan Thomas said:
IIRC, the G1000 has a low fuel alert. Developing a "simple" alarm isn't that simple. The fuel sloshes around in the tank and the sender float follows it, so even at 1/3 tank you could get the alarm sounding or flashing. You'd need a damper circuit to average out the varying voltage so that the signal would be consistently low before the alarm sounded. Most fuel gauges are already damped somewhat by design, but that wouldn't help the alarm circuit.
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Well, the fuels sloshes around in my motorcycle tank, too, and I corner it at pretty extreme bank angles. Yet the fuel gauge is extremely accurate and the low fuel warning light works like a charm. I have trouble believing it’s too difficult a problem.
 
Dan Thomas said:
IIRC, the G1000 has a low fuel alert. Developing a "simple" alarm isn't that simple. The fuel sloshes around in the tank and the sender float follows it, so even at 1/3 tank you could get the alarm sounding or flashing. You'd need a damper circuit to average out the varying voltage so that the signal would be consistently low before the alarm sounded. Most fuel gauges are already damped somewhat by design, but that wouldn't help the alarm circuit.
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This doesn't require anything mechanical or electronic if the fuel level is being monitored by an EFIS or anything firmware controlled. It's an absurdly simple affair to average sensor readings over time to give a more useful reading.
 
sarangan said:
I think we are probably being a little too harsh on this guy. It sounds like he was not properly instructed to include the fuel gauges in his scan during training.
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There's a much bigger problem than that. For most light pistons (except maybe a few with very advanced fuel systems), your primary way to monitor fuel levels is time flown, with the fuel gauges only as a backup/secondary.

No properly trained pilot — sport or otherwise — should have taken off without knowing how much fuel was in the tanks each time (either by dipping, visual confirmation of the tabs, or topping them off) and how long that fuel could be expected to last at their cruise power setting.

If the only fuel monitoring this pilot used was glancing at the gauges — even the correct ones — something was already seriously wrong, either with the pilot's training, or with the pilot's skill retention.
 
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