NTSB -- Safety Alert
The NTSB continues to take a close look at General Aviation Safety
One topic fails to be actively discussed....... Fuel Starvation/Exhaustion Incidents in General Aviation Average 2 to 3 per week and in the Top 5 of all causes. While this is an issue for aviation safety, it receives scant mention in the NTSB reports or in mitigation strategies.
This is not an uncommon or a glaring oversight, most pilots, which some of the NTSB board are, will quickly point the blame at a fellow pilot for this particular accident scenario.
In this quick rush, I believe we are overlooking contributing elements in the chain of events that contribute to incidents and accidents of this type
General Aviation Safety: Climbing to the Next Level
In the NTSB Chairwoman's presentation at Oshkosh Airventure.
Aero News Network reported the following:
"Hersman said that while private flying accounts for only about half of all the flying done in the U.S., it accounts for a disproportionate number of fatal accidents, according to a study done by the NTSB. She said there are some themes that seem to crop up in many GA accident investigations that could be addressed by better pilot training and pre-flight planning. "I think that there are things that should never happen, really the easy things, and then I think there are things that are hard things, too," Hersman said. "And I think that among the things in the bucket that are easy ... fuel starvation. How many times do our investigators need to investigate an accident like that."
Press Coverage of NTSB Chairperson Barbara Hersman
I disagree with the NTSB chairpersons Barbara Hersman's response, I believe this is one area that needs a detailed and closer look.
Fuel Starvation / Exhaustion as reported above is a common occurrence in aviation -
The chairpersons comment in her News presentation in Oshkosh suggested that an NTSB in-depth evaluation into the causal factors of fuel starvation is not warranted by the board.
In the board GA Safety Board Meeting and
the recent NTSB GA Safety Alert - Fuel starvation was only lightly addressed there was really no mention of fuel related issues.
I want to ask ..... Why
Yes the unfortunate pilots that have experienced fuel starvation or exhaustion should have known how much fuel they started with, the should have checked prior to flight. and they should have known average fuel consumption - his "maths" – Basic Pilot Skills. Inculcated from his first training flight
But the headline to the right says a lot about the information available to the pilot about their fuel level.
Accurate & Reliable Fuel Level in Aircraft - Is the Exception & Not the Rule.
And in an emergency situation every pilot should know which tank has the most fuel – they need to know which tank to switch to.
Every pilot manual states that for the most engine critical procedures – Take off – Engine restart – Engine performance (spitting coughing) – switching to the fullest tank is not only required, it will save you from an incident.
If Ms. Hersman would have asked the aircraft owners in attendance at Oshkosh if they had accurate fuel level gauges – the response to that inquiry would be startling. Accurate and reliable fuel gauges are the exception in small aircraft and not the rule.
In fact some pilots in attendance will state clearly they have accurate gauges in their aircraft as the gauge will read zero when they are out of fuel. What they won't say is that the gauge reads zero all the time.
How can you make the determination of your available fuel or which tank had greater quantity of fuel if your gauges are erratic or of limited accuracy and why are we turning a blind eye to this in aviation.
This fundamental issue becomes very real when you read the NTSB Accident Investigation Reports that resulted from fuel starvation occurrences. In most every cace where there was still fuel onboard the aircraft - the selector was on the dry tank -.
When almost every learning GA pilot is told not to trust the fuel level gauges – are we in aviation really surprised that fuel exhaustion occurs so often, or that a solution would fall into the "EASY" bucket.
If technology in the form of Angle of Attack systems are indicated to help Stall Spin incidents
I am baffled why fuel level technology gets the literal short stick.
