Cessna 172 forced landing on Manari Rd, Broome

[onetrack]

The media is reporting a Cessna 172 has made a successful dead-stick emergency landing on the Cape Leveque-Broome Rd (Manari Rd) after reportedly running out of fuel.

 

Now, while this immediately sounds bad, it is more than likely the story is a lot more involved than what has been reported in the couple of paragraphs below.

 

Light aircraft makes emergency landing near Broome

 

1. The aircraft left Cape Leveque after an overnight stay, destination Broome. It is entirely possible the fuel tank/s were "milked" at Cape Leveque, and the pilot didn't do a final check, just immediately prior to takeoff.

 

2. It's possible the fuel supply line was disrupted in some manner, and serious amounts of fuel were lost in flight.

 

See scenario 1 for the possibility that the "milking" involved removing a fuel line and it was not replaced properly.

 

3. I had a former business partner who put his Cherokee down on the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie Rd many years ago, due to a fuel tank crossover valve failure and resultant fuel starvation.

 

He landed O.K., but then took a wing off on a large roadsign that got in the way!

 

It's entirely possible the Cessna suffered a similar style of problem, but I'm not familiar with Cessna tank/plumbing setups, so this is merely conjecture on my part.

 

Glad to see the emergency landing was successful and no-one was hurt. The Manari Rd is full of caravanners, campers and 4WD's at present, he's lucky he didn't land on a 4WD or a caravan or a camper!

 

 

[Bats]

Occam's Razor comes to mind - ie. if he ran out of fuel the most likely explanation is that he set off with insufficient go juice.

 

 

[ave8rr]

I wonder if this aircraft has a new owner? Aircraft has been advertised for sale in Kununurra for past few months.

 

 

[Ferris]

Missing fuel should have been detected in the pre-flight - if it was conducted.

 

I have heard of Cessna pilots leaving a fuel cap off after refuelling. The fuel is then sucked out during flight and this is undetectable while inflight.

 

Guess we'll have to wait for the ATSB report.

 

 

[poteroo]

I have heard of Cessna pilots leaving a fuel cap off after refuelling. The fuel is then sucked out during flight and this is undetectable while inflight.

It actually is detectable if you lift each wing in turn, against the sun or good light. If the cap is off - there will be a stream of vapour back of flaps. It happened to me in PNG where I succumbed to rushing things in face of weather deterioration - but after 15 mins, I began to think about my procedures - had a look for a vapour trail as above - Shock! Horror! - landed and replaced cap. Lesson learned.

 

happy daysd

 

 

[cooperplace]

Missing fuel should have been detected in the pre-flight - if it was conducted.I have heard of Cessna pilots leaving a fuel cap off after refuelling. The fuel is then sucked out during flight and this is undetectable while inflight.

Guess we'll have to wait for the ATSB report.

same is true of Jabiru pilots: I know because I've done it, some years ago. Did circuits for 30 min or so, on landing expected 50L still in tank but only about 30. Found that I'd left the fuel cap off. Sure sucks fuel out fast. I double check this now, every flight. And I don't let people distract me during pre-flight.

 

 

[onetrack]

The ATSB has initiated an investigation, but it will be several months before it's completed. The landing was apparently a precautionary landing after the pilot noticed a low fuel reading - the aircraft didn't actually run out of fuel.

 

My hunch money is on someone milking the tank overnight, after the pilot filled it the previous afternoon - and didn't re-check it during pre-flight checks.

 

Investigation: AO-2016-087 - Low fuel and precautionary landing involving Cessna 172, VH-WKB, 30 km N of Broome Airport, WA, on 1 August 2016

 

I can recall the crash of an Aero Commander that ran out of fuel in the hills near Perth in February 1986. The aircraft was set up for surveying with a magnetometer, and had been refuelled by the pilot in preparation for some flying in a day or two.

 

However, unbeknowns to the pilot, the aircraft had been run up and taxied around, doing ground testing of on-board equipment, the next day.

 

Because the aircraft never left the ground, no entry was made in the logbook as regards the engine hours run, nor the fuel used.

 

The fuel gauges were inoperative, and this was not noted in the maintenance records - however, the pilot was known to be aware of the inoperative fuel gauges.

 

The pilot arrived the next day and apparently took off without doing a physical fuel level check, as part of the pre-flight checks. He obviously assumed that, because he'd refuelled two days before, the tanks would still be full.

 

He was wrong, and the aircraft ran out of fuel over the heavily timbered Hills area, N of the Canning Dam, and the result was two fatalities and the total destruction of the aircraft.

 

Investigation: 198600131 - Aero Commander 500S, 2km North of Canning Dam WA, 27 February 1986

 

 

[Camel]

In case some don't know, a C172 or aircraft with similar fuel systems should be fuelled so that fuel can not cross feed so if it is switched to left tank so it can not cross feed during refuelling, if someone were filling a tank a stop for a chat when they thought it was full, it will cross feed to other tank so when other tank is filled the other tank is no longer full. This happened in a C152 years ago to a friend and chatted while refuelling and ran out on route.

 

I'm not saying this is the problem but it is a very obvious one to operators of Cessnas with fuel selectors that cross feed.

 

 

[facthunter]

You can never legally rely on fuel gauges alone. You cross reference from a dip + onload , or empty + fuel added or to brimming full with a known useable amount or a dip by itself. The dip alone must be able to be relied on. Ie proven accurate marks for the particular plane on a LEVEL surface. Long shallow tanks are hard to get any accurate reading. On some aircraft you can use fuel used from instruments (flowmeters etc) that should align with the aircrafts NORMAL fuel usage rates for the trip time. Nev

 

 

[frank marriott]

In case some don't know, a C172 or aircraft with similar fuel systems should be fuelled so that fuel can not cross feed so if it is switched to left tank so it can not cross feed during refuelling, if someone were filling a tank a stop for a chat when they thought it was full, it will cross feed to other tank so when other tank is filled the other tank is no longer full. This happened in a C152 years ago to a friend and chatted while refuelling and ran out on route. I'm not saying this is the problem but it is a very obvious one to operators of Cessnas with fuel selectors that cross feed.

Or park on a slope with "both" selected.

 

 

[Camel]

Or park on a slope with "both" selected.

That will definitely empty a lot of fuel out the breather. Good point, seen it happen !