Crash at KCHD Nov 6 2020

Per owner that rented the C150 to the pilot and passenger they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind. They tried to make it back to the runway and ended up in the heliport parking lot and rolled into the canal. The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board.
 
"...they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind...The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board..."​

And we wonder why our insurance premiums keep going up. Idiots. :mad:
 
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GRG55 said:
"...they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind...The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board..."​

And we wonder why our insurance premiums keep going up. Idiots. :mad:
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It's called externalities, and this blasted hobby is riddled with them. Can't have nice things and all that jazz.
 
evapilotaz said:
Per owner that rented the C150 to the pilot and passenger they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind. They tried to make it back to the runway and ended up in the heliport parking lot and rolled into the canal. The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board.
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I don’t quite understand the geography in this description, being familiar with that airport.

Does heliport refer to Quantum Helicopters on the east side of the field? If so, what canal is being referred to, as the Consolidated Canal is on the west side. Also the photo looks like they are right next to a taxiway. It appears there is a heliport over by the canal, but then the taxiway is puzzling.
 
evapilotaz said:
Per owner that rented the C150 to the pilot and passenger they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind. They tried to make it back to the runway and ended up in the heliport parking lot and rolled into the canal. The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board.
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I’ve flown a 150 about 6-7 patterns and not a problem with less than capacity 18 gallons. Not sure what these people were doing.
 
woodchucker said:
I’ve flown a 150 about 6-7 patterns and not a problem with less than capacity 18 gallons. Not sure what these people were doing.
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In addition to VFR and IFR there is HUA (Head Up A..). I believe the last one was the flight category they were operating under.
 
^pilot's failure to maintain adequate fuel level during all phases of flight

Just about every NTSB report starts with "pilot's failure to..." and it states the obvious thing everyone was thinking for the last 24 months
 
NordicDave said:
During my Checkride oral portion, the DPE asked me what makes a plane fly?

Told him "you are looking for the 4 components of flight, but the practical answer is Terrain, Maintenance, and Gas". He liked the answer.
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Paperwork and money
 
evapilotaz said:
Per owner that rented the C150 to the pilot and passenger they were on their 7th touch and go and they misjudged the fuel consumption and engine died on crosswind. They tried to make it back to the runway and ended up in the heliport parking lot and rolled into the canal. The pilot was instrument rated with a cfi friend on board.
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The 150's I used to fly had these things called "fuel gauges".
 
Kenny Phillips said:
The 150's I used to fly had these things called "fuel gauges".
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You mean an old Stewart-Warner fuel gauge that is 55 years old and yet still costs $300 in parts to replace? Yep. And for certain they never fail or stick.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
The 150's I used to fly had these things called "fuel gauges".
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12-21255.jpg

Was this your gauge?
 
FlightAware track at https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N8700G. Appears to be 16 attempted T & Gs, starting at 6:41 AM local time (13:41Z).

Appears to be student female pilot and male instructor from the liveatc.net recordings. Instructor announces emergency landing at 8:09:30 AM. So they were flying about 1:30 before running out of fuel.

The crash was on the east side of the field near Quantum Helicopters. The accident plane was using right traffic on 4R at the time.
 
If I might speculate a bit. They were out pretty early and running this many T&Gs in a row sounds an awfully lot like trying to get a student ready for a solo. Perhaps the instructor did stick measure the tanks and thought ok for a 1 hour lesson. Then got distracted by whatever was going on with the student and just kept having her try. Lost track of the count and the time.
 
The aircraft is a 150F with a 26 gallon fuel capacity and a 6.5 gal/hr fuel burn. About a 730# useful load. So this flight would have burnt perhaps 10.5 gallons of fuel.
 
Woah, certainly not 730 pounds useful load. I have a 150F and I have a solid 560 pound useful and it is pretty bare bones based on a recent weighing. I do have the rare rear child seat (10 pounds). Odyssey battery, only one lightweight radio (GTR-200), no nav equipment, no Hobbs meter, no clock, no carpet, no wheel pants. I could save another 7 pounds with a lightweight starter, maybe another 15 if I remove the vacuum pump and replace the AI with an AV-30.

I do also believe that the O-200 can burn up to 10 gallons per hour at full rich, so depending on how long that are at full throttle vs idle, it could be more than 6.5 gal/hr. But regardless, it was some sort of fuel miscalculation.
 
benyflyguy said:
Oye. Not sure that much can be learned after the first 6 touch and goes. 16 is a lot!!!
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Yes, one really does have to wonder why they were going on like that. I suppose another factor may have simply been fatigue in everyone’s part.
 
benyflyguy said:
Oye. Not sure that much can be learned after the first 6 touch and goes. 16 is a lot!!!
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PeterNSteinmetz said:
Yes, one really does have to wonder why they were going on like that. I suppose another factor may have simply been fatigue in everyone’s part.
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I inherited one student who had eleven touch-n-go landings on his fifth flight with his first instructor. After that flight he had 25 landings logged but could not climb Vy without staring at the ASI nor find level pitch without chasing the altimeter. He had zero concept of basic VFR attitude flying while looking out the window, but he had 25 landings in five flights! o_O
 
Pilawt said:
Useful load of my 150F was 491 lb. (1600 MGW minus 1109 empty). My 150E before that was 541 lb useful.
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I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed my airplane for the first time in 30 years and it only gained 10 pounds. But that was after removing 10 pounds of equipment. So in reality it was 20 pounds heavier than listed in the W&B. Even still, I discount the current W&B by another 20 pounds in the summer and only really consider max gross in the winter when performance is dramatically better.
 
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