Fuel exhaustion event

[Skip Miller]

Sounds like a Saratoga II. Long, skinny wings resulted in no fuel visible through the filler when there was a lot left. Solution: a factory installed mechanical fuel gauge visible on the ground or in flight.

-Skip

 

[flyingcheesehead]

12. Soybeans are great. So soft. Nature's foamed runway.

I wouldn't be so sure. IIRC @tonycondon, who lands in fields all the time with his gliders, avoids soybeans because they can get "grabby" and flip you over too.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

That's not always possible. My Bonanza, for example, had bladders that extended out a fair distance. You could have plenty of fuel but not apparent at the filler neck.

Same thing with a DA40 - It has very long, skinny tanks so it only takes about 3 gallons burned before the tank looks dry where the cap is.

The long, skinny tanks are aluminum cells nestled in between dual wing spars so it's an extremely safe design, just leads to the quirk that you can't see the fuel. They do provide a weird contraption that you can hook up to the sump drains and still have a mechanical means of seeing the levels, though.

 

[bluerooster]

Dad had a similar event in his 182. He took off with plenty of fuel to make his destination. And made it to within about 50 miles.
Landed at a closed airport. The whole side of his airplane was blue. The seals in the flush gas caps had allowed fuel to be siphoned overboard. When he got home, he installed new "Umbrella" caps.

 

[ahmad]

Phew. What a read. Thank you for posting and sharing. I know its hard to tell on yourself. Months ago I was flying around to build time. I was near the field I was trying to get gas at but wanted to burn as much fuel as possible so that it was worth the landing landing and effort. My hard rule is to be on the ground at 1/4 tanks. I land with 1/4 tanks and realize I left my damn credit cards in the car. No money and no way of getting gas. Wife is out of town and so my good ole buddy had to drive 90 mins to bring me a credit card. Lesson learned. Now I have a credit card for emergency use in the plane.

 

[AV8R_87]

I keep some emergency cash in my headset bag. Even if it's after hours at a self-serve pump, I can call the airport manager and arrange a way to pump fuel, while leaving some cash in the after hours drop box.