Student pilot fuel exhaustion 07/01/2020

Stingray Don said:
Student pilot with a passenger, fuel exhaustion, and no oil. That’s a whole lotta fail in one flight. Sorry son, but flying is not for you.
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Although…
The engine oil system was also examined. The oil dipstick was dry, and only five drops of oil were drained from the bottom drain valve. The FAA inspector who examined the airplane noted that it had been in a steep nose-down attitude for 2 weeks, and the oil could have gone into a sump or hidden cavity. Per the engine representative, the engine has no oil check valve. If the engine is on its side or nose down, it will vent oil from the fill tube.
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If there really was that little oil in the engine during the flight, I want to know what kind of oil he was using. ;)
 
MauleSkinner said:
Although…

If there really was that little oil in the engine during the flight, I want to know what kind of oil he was using. ;)
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No kidding. If I started my engine with no oil showing on the dipstick, I would be very surprised to fly long enough to run out of gas.

Edit: After reading the report again, it sounds like the oil probably did drain out after the crash. But if the pilot had told them he checked the oil before flight, they probably would have mentioned that.
 
Student with passenger, runs out of fuel, maybe no oil, in an experimental aircraft; which makes sense because the whole event was an experiment gone wrong.
 
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Grum.Man said:
There have been a couple of these recently. It was a Colt or Tripacer went down a month or two ago with a passenger riding along for the students cross county solo.

Edit to add story:
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/06/fuel-exhaustion-piper-pa-22-160-n9227d.html
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The NTSB report says the "pilot" was issued a student certificate in January 2014, five years before the crash.

I would hope a death tied directly one's idiot malfeasance results in a lifetime of guilt.
 
I'm a student pilot but my fiancée won't fly with me until I hit a minimum 200 hours...
 
Here's another one from a year earlier, in a Tri-Pacer: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/06/fuel-exhaustion-piper-pa-22-160-n9227d.html

It sounds like a cross-country flight to visit the passenger's sister. The student pilot survived but the passenger did not. Probable cause was fuel exhaustion due to any fuel onboard being siphoned out on account of the fuel caps being left behind somewhere. The pilot refused to give a statement about the accident so they apparently never did find out if he had taken off without adequate fuel or if he just left the fuel caps off.
 
I'm really starting to dislike the term "student pilot" because of this type of dumbassery. We should probably remove the "pilot" part and just call them students until they pass that checkride.
 
GaryM said:
That assumes they are learning. I'm not sure that was the case with this individual.
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I think both crashes (the OP and the one I mentioned this morning) give an opportunity for learning. If either of these surviving "learners" ever takes flight again, they will have had this helpful lesson about why you should put enough gas into the airplane to make the planned flight and perform a preflight that includes at least a visual look at the gas caps.
 
When did “student” become an unacceptable term? And aren’t we always learning? So what differentiates a new “learner” vs “experienced and still learning?”
 
Instructors around here have taken to calling them "clients."
 
"Per the engine representative, the engine has no oil check valve. If the engine is on its side or nose down, it will vent oil from the fill tube."

The crash site is only about 20 miles from the airport. I wonder what he "learned" in those intervening 10 minutes?
 
rtk11 said:
When did “student” become an unacceptable term? And aren’t we always learning? So what differentiates a new “learner” vs “experienced and still learning?”
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The AOPA link above explains the history and the rationale.
 
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