Plane runs out of fuel, lands in field....

He ran out of fuel after leaving an airport? Wouldn't that have been a good place to get some?
 
tmyers said:
He ran out of fuel after leaving an airport? Wouldn't that have been a good place to get some?
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Yep. Though I note (not knowing whether this is a factor or not) that 100LL at KXSA is 36 cents per gallon cheaper. 35 miles or so from Shannon.
 
Did he actually land at the first airport or did he divert because of the weather looks like he could have had fog.
 
The Fredericksburg, VA area (30 miles from where I live) has had a rough go of it lately... None of which is making my small-plane-fearing wife very happy. Come on people, pull it together!
 
More on the story - apparently he flew 700 miles, then ran out of fuel. The other news story implies that he left from Shannon....

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...-219237821.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand

The pilot, reportedly told employees at the store he forgot to fuel the plane before taking off from Tampa, Fla. Running short on fuel, Orlando was diverted from his destination in Charlottesville to Stafford Regional Airport and later to Shannon Airport.
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Personally, I'd probably have gone to Richmond or Hanover... there are a lot of options closer to Charlottesville than Shannon.
 
A friend of mine ran out of gas flying a C172 from Austin Bergstrom (KAUS) to Lockhart (50R) - a distance of 21nm. Because the flight school he rented from prohibited buying gas at KAUS.

Fortunately he landed in a field, the flight school sent a truck out with some gas cans, and he was able to continue to 50R with no one the wiser.
 
JimNtexas said:
A friend of mine ran out of gas flying a C172 from Austin Bergstrom (KAUS) to Lockhart (50R) - a distance of 21nm. Because the flight school he rented from prohibited buying gas at KAUS.
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The flight school might not reimburse fuel purchased at KAUS, but I can't imagine it could possibly prohibit the purchase outright.

Common sense (not to mention good PIC judgment) on the other hand, should prohibit taking off with only fumes in the tanks, regardless of what the flight school policy says.
 
METAR for CHO:

KCHO 121053Z 00000KT 1/4SM FG VV001 21/21 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP166 T02110206
KCHO 120953Z 00000KT 1/4SM FG VV001 21/21 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP162 T02110211

Flight path:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4969J/history/20130812/0534Z/R SAV 7 7/KCHO

Looks like CHO and SHD were socked in. RIC was low, too. ROA might have been too far, but was pretty good. FVX - down to the south of CHO - looked pretty good, too.
 
I missed the fact he was traveling North-bound. Charlottesville is south of Fredericksburg. He would have had to go 50 NM further North-East, past Charlottesville to get to Shannon.

Dunno if he was IFR rated/equipped, or if CHO was IFR and/or below minimums, but it seems like there would be a dozen or so better places to put it down if you missed KCHO, rather than Shannon.

Something's fishy here, and I don't know what it is. But if he was on a path from Tampa to CHO, then he should never have ended up in Fredericksburg.
 
livitup said:
I missed the fact he was traveling North-bound. Charlottesville is south of Fredericksburg. He would have had to go 50 NM further North-East, past Charlottesville to get to Shannon.

Dunno if he was IFR rated/equipped, or if CHO was IFR and/or below minimums, but it seems like there would be a dozen or so better places to put it down if you missed KCHO, rather than Shannon.

Something's fishy here, and I don't know what it is. But if he was on a path from Tampa to CHO, then he should never have ended up in Fredericksburg.
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Looks like CHO was below mins. A great argument for wx in the cockpit (or a request to ATC) because FVX looked pretty decent at the time. It's not like the fog wasn't forecast - even the TV weather folks were talking fog last night.
 
wsuffa said:
Looks like CHO was below mins. A great argument for wx in the cockpit (or a request to ATC) because FVX looked pretty decent at the time. It's not like the fog wasn't forecast - even the TV weather folks were talking fog last night.
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Yeah, you posted that while I was typing my post, and when I saw your post I started looking at the weather history. I was still asleep then, so I didn't realize how foggy it was this morning.

Louisa looks like it might have been possible too, depending on if he was instrument rated/capable.

So less fishy, but more stupid. How do you forget to fill the tanks? I'd be worried about half way through that flight when the little pointy bits started to look like they were closer to E than F. Sad, but entirely preventable.

Actually, maybe this will be a good teaching point for my wife. Not only was this accident totally preventable, but he lived to tell the tale. :)
 
"Minor damage," in the report. Did he sheer-off the landing gear, bury it, or just not put it down? (I'm a Cessna man and don't readily identify all the Piper models.)

HR
 
livitup said:
Yeah, you posted that while I was typing my post, and when I saw your post I started looking at the weather history. I was still asleep then, so I didn't realize how foggy it was this morning.

Louisa looks like it might have been possible too, depending on if he was instrument rated/capable.

So less fishy, but more stupid. How do you forget to fill the tanks? I'd be worried about half way through that flight when the little pointy bits started to look like they were closer to E than F. Sad, but entirely preventable.

Actually, maybe this will be a good teaching point for my wife. Not only was this accident totally preventable, but he lived to tell the tale. :)
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I pulled the METAR for Louisa - it was also down in the muck...

KLKU 121115Z AUTO 33003KT 2SM BR BKN001 22/21 A3003 RMK AO2 VIS 3/4V5
KLKU 121055Z AUTO 00000KT 1SM BR OVC001 21/20 A3002 RMK AO2 VIS 1/4V4
KLKU 121035Z AUTO 00000KT 1/4SM FG OVC001 21/21 A3002 RMK AO2
KLKU 121015Z AUTO 00000KT 3/4SM BR OVC001 21/21 A3001 RMK AO2

KFVX has the AWOS NOTAMed out, so you can't tell whether the online weather is reliable -
KFVX 121055Z AUTO 00000KT 7SM CLR 21/21 A3002 RMK AO2
KFVX 121035Z AUTO 00000KT 3SM BR CLR 21/20 A3002 RMK AO2
KFVX 121015Z AUTO 00000KT 1 1/2SM BR BKN001 21/21 A3001 RMK AO2
KFVX 120955Z AUTO 00000KT 5SM BR CLR 21/21 A3001 RMK AO2

Virtually zero temp/DP spread.... recipe for trouble.

Makes me wonder if he even pulled a weather report before he left. Sorta like forgetting to fill the fuel. With that moist frontal boundary across the middle of Virginia, this shouldn't have been a big surprise.

He left himself no options. Granted, flying in the middle of the night would have made it hard (and more expensive) to get fuel, but a stop in NC would have assured enough fuel to fly on once he learned that CHO was low. Sometimes you've just got to stop and wait it out.
 
Flight Aware makes it look like he held a couple laps before heading to PCHO then headed off to the east.
 
"Lack of fuel"... file under "get-there-itis". :mad2:
On the bright side, the news article describes it as an "emergency landing" rather than a "crash", which is a beautiful thing.
 
livitup said:
The Fredericksburg, VA area (30 miles from where I live) has had a rough go of it lately... None of which is making my small-plane-fearing wife very happy. Come on people, pull it together!
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Yeah, I'm 18 miles away. My wife's giving me "the look" every time something like this happens. I was kinda hoping to bring her aboard once I get my ticket but this is making my hobby a tough sell lately.
 
Similar situation happened to one of our club members. Inexperience was a big factor, he was instrument rated with only 230 hours. He delayed his flight home until well after sunset because of the possibility of thunderstorms (scattered maybe 30-40%). Well guess what happens at night after a rain... Fog and Low Stratus form until the sun causes it to lift up the next AM.

Anyway he ran out of fuel in low IMC at 4AM and thankfully walked away from the crash.

50de8f1cb37c3.image.jpg
 
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