It's a major no no to have fuel starvation. The three most useless things in aviation are altitude above, runway behind and fuel on the ground.

Lucky? Perhaps lucky their pilot didn't forget how to land too. Out of fuel is really the ultimate blunder. Almost as bad as forgetting to set flaps or lower your gear.

He was probably less than 10 air miles from Palomar Airport. Next time he'll leave ample reserve.

Glad he got it down safe for sure though.

There probably won't be a "next time". I doubt the FAA will ever let the pilot fly again. They will usually pull you license if you do something stupid like miscalculate the amount of fuel you need.

He could fight it, but I doubt he'll ever get it back

Lucky? No. Not very bright? - Yes!

The greatest killer of small plane pilots is the act of trying to fly 3 1/2 hours on 3 hours of fuel. There are two actions that, when used together, will guarantee you will never run out of fuel

1 - Before take off during preflight, remove the gas cap and stick your finger in the tank. If it gets wet and smells like gas, put the cap back on tightly and fly. If it doesn't get wet, call for the gas truck.

2 - Before takeoff, get a soft drink, Cup of coffee, or bottle of water. The average small plane has 3 hours of gas. The average small plane pilot has 2 hrs of bladder. When the world starts taking on a yellow look, land the plane. While you are "defueling" yourself, have the plane refueled. Buy another soda and take off again.

Could have been much worse. Glad No one was hurt besides some pride I would assume.

It's a major no no to have fuel starvation. The three most useless things in aviation are altitude above, runway behind and fuel on the ground.

And the prop is nothing more than a big fan. How can you tell? When it stops, the pilot begins to sweat.

NoWay86

There probably won't be a "next time". I doubt the FAA will ever let the pilot fly again.

The FAA will raise hell with him, give him a $1000.00 fine and make him take another check ride, but ther are ways to get back into the air.

They will usually pull you license if you do something stupid like miscalculate the amount of fuel you need.

It could also be that he didn't miscalculate. Have you ever heard of a bad seal on the gas cap? If he rented the plane from an FBO and the gas cap had a seal that didn't, the gas can slowly be sucked out of the tank by the low pressure over the wing that forms a component of the lift.

If the plane is only flying around the airport doing "crash and dash" (touch and go), you won't notice it except that the plane is using more fuel than you expect. But, when it goes out on a couple of hour cross country, you can get a real surprise if you aren't paying attention to your fuel burn and tank position.

Not me Mr. Steady. I have 800 hours in gliders. Doesn't bother me much to have an engine burp.

Running out of fuel? WTF? He didn't gas up before taking off? He didn't notice that until he was SO low he couldn't make it to a nearby airport? This guy should have his pilot's license revoked. He is a danger to others.

As for the insurance company, I would deny the claim out of negligence and make the pilot pay all costs.

He thought the freeway was a McDonald's drive thru

Did it occur to anyone he might have had a gas tank leak?

Maybe there was a leak?

Remembering to top off the gas tank seems like something most pilots wouldn't forget.

A leak bad enough to drain all the fuel in the short distance from San Diego to Escondido would have left a very noticeable puddle on the ground before they even saddled up.

The Angry Guy

A leak bad enough to drain all the fuel in the short distance from San Diego to Escondido would have left a very noticeable puddle on the ground before they even saddled up.

Not necessarily.

Have you ever heard of a bad seal on the gas cap? If he rented the plane from an FBO and the gas cap had a seal that didn't, the gas can slowly be sucked out of the tank by the low pressure over the wing that forms a component of the lift.

If the plane is only flying around the airport doing "crash and dash" (touch and go), you won't notice it except that the plane is using more fuel than you 9the rental agency) expects. But, when it goes out on a couple of hour cross country, you can get a real surprise if you aren't paying attention to your fuel burn and tank position.

If it were a bad seal on the gas cap, you'd see it on a low wing airplane. You'd see it as soon as you looked one way or another before you made your crosswind turn on climbout.

Angry Guy,

If it were a bad seal on the gas cap, you'd see it on a low wing airplane. You'd see it as soon as you looked one way or another before you made your crosswind turn on climbout.

Not necessarily. It's dependent on the severity of the leak ( it looks more like a mist over the back of the wing rather than a leak because, as it is sucked out, it vaporizes), which tank is leaking (it could be on the "fat, dumb, and happy" passenger's side), a function of how much fuel you started with, and if you are using both tanks with a crossover feed (as Pipers do where 1 tank will drain the other). There isn't a "cut and dried" answer here because there are too many possible variables to play armchair quarterback . It will be interesting to see what the NTSB has to say.

The only thing I would fault him for without more information (I've been a CFIIA for 35 years) is situational awareness. I teach my students to check their fuel with respect to the their air time at several points along a cross country. Starting at the first checkpoint (generally 10 to 12 minutes after takeoff for VFR or at the hand off to ARTC) If you have been in the air for 15 minutes but have but you are showing only 1/2 tank of fuel left, something is wrong and it's time to divert to the nearest airport and take a look.

IMO, he evidently wasn't paying attention to the gas gauges until the engine started making ugly noises. He may have taken off with almost full tanks, thought "I have plenty of gas" , and didn't look at the gauges. The gas gauge is an instrument no different than the Attitude or Directional Gyros; give them a glance once in a while and it may save your life. It never hurts to "land and look" rather than becoming a headline on NBC or CNN.

I still don't buy the leak theory. He may have had a leak, but most likely he started out with low fuel. You don't start with full tanks and lose enough to be dry after 10 or 20 minutes without noticing SOMETHING. And casually dropping the CFI credential doesn't mean you know better.

Angry Guy is aptly named.

Never? There are more than a few possible reasons for fuel starvation - not related to pilot error. How about we wait for the official investigation before we crucify the guy?

I know how badly these articles are written by non-pilots, but it says he noticed he was running out of gas. Does that mean the engine was dropping and surging? Did he think the gauges were telling him he wouldn't make Palomar so he put it on the freeway while he still had power?

Yeah, the one thing you can be sure of in any aviation-related story is that you will NEVER get the real facts untainted by groundbound reporters' misconceptions. Plus, there's never a followup, unless you go to the NTSB website a year later and find it yourself.

You notice the article says four people on board including the pilot. Ya' think?

He's angry, but he's right. We really can't judge this situation at all without reading the final investigation, much less hinging on the words of an internet reporter. Hell I literally drove by this plane this morning on the freeway (I had already heard about it so I was expecting it) and I saw no evidence whatsoever of wing damage so who knows how hard if at all this pickup hit it. It looked like a good landing from where I was.

NTSB final report is all we can count on, and that takes a lot of time to get right.

Let them hate, as long as they fear. - Caesar

Settle down Caligula.

Stop proving that newsvine is a sausage fest

Reasons yes, excuses no.

Actually speaking as a pilot, there is NO reason for running out of gas, short of a mechanical failure. All other "reasons" are poor excuses for pissed poor planning.

You're a skydiver and you rode out a dead engine to the ground? Why not jump?

Wait, a straight? As in water? Forget I asked.

Kevin - fuel starvation is a reason for running out of gas, but not an excuse.

I was not in the plane, he was headed back to the mainland by himself.