Accident Probes

The pilot departed on a 1+50 cross-country flight with approximately 30 gallons of fuel in each wing tank (approximately 27 gallons usable fuel per side). The flight was uneventful until he started a descent from 8000 feet msl to 3000 feet, when the engine made “two pops” and “quit.” The pilot said there was no engine roughness, “It just stopped.” He made several attempts to restart the engine, but was unsuccessful. The pilot declared an emergency and landed in a field. Upon landing, the nose gear dug into the dirt and separated from the airplane.

Low-level, low-speed maneuvering is always a challenge, something reflected in the accident record. Whether we engage in this type of maneuvering because we’re showing off or trying to get around the traffic pattern, the risks are the same: There simply isn’t enough altitude to recover from a stall/spin if we get into one. Add some stiff wind, gusty conditions and/or poor planning to our low-speed equation and things quickly can get out of hand. That’s presuming everything else is as it should be, including an airplane loaded within its weight and balance limitations. If it’s overweight, out of balance or both, you’ve just become a test pilot on a difficult day.

Anyone who’s spent much time using a personal airplane for transportation has—at least once—found themselves disoriented when maneuvering to land at an unfamiliar airport. Among the challenges can be picking out the right runway, especially if there are multiple choices. Operations into strange-to-us airports can generate lots of confusion. That’s especially true when the runway configuration isn’t what we’re used to. An example might involve someone accustomed to a single runway who suddenly must cope with intersecting pavement, or where two runway thresholds are adjacent to each other, even though they’re oriented approximately 90 degrees apart.

A time-honored pre-flight inspection ritual is sampling an aircraft’s fuel tanks. The idea, of course, is to drain a quantity from each sump, which usually mounted at a tank’s lowest point, into a clear container, then examine the fuel for contamination and quality: Is it the same stuff that’s supposed to be in the tanks? Are water or other contaminants present? Is it even fuel? In my flying career, at least, it’s rare to find a problem with a fuel sample. But I’ve been quite shocked on a few occasions to find nothing but some very nasty-looking water in a tank or two, which demanded further investigation. Yet, I’ve seen pilots walk up to an airplane for the first flight of the day, kick the tires, light the fires and launch without sumping. Truth be told, I’ve probably done it a couple of times, too. But it’s a bad idea. Here’s why, and what can happen when we fail to sump fuel tanks and ensure we have clean, correct fuel.

Any time repairs or other work is performed on an aircraft, it’s a good idea to conduct a post-maintenance test flight to ensure everything is working as it should. There’s even a regulation, FAR 91.407, covering such flights and the “operational check of the maintenance performed or alteration made.” In many ways, someone conducting such a flight is a test pilot, determining whether the work performed was completed properly and the aircraft performs as intended. During such flights, we generally plan to conduct a functional check of any and all systems potentially affected by the work performed and return. This, of course, presumes we don’t find a problem with the work performed. If we do find a problem during our post-maintenance check flight, an obvious response is to get the aircraft back on the ground expeditiously and resolve the issue. Depending on the problem, we may or may not be in a hurry: To us, an engine oil leak would mean hurry up and land, while a flight-control system issue might encourage us to take things easier and handle the aircraft gently.

These pages often have extolled the virtues of night flying, with less traffic and smoother air foremost among them. In almost the same breath, however, we also caution against the many ways night flying can trip us up. Yes, our basic inability to, you know, actually see things outside the airplane can be a problem, but that’s only part of the challenges we face when flying at night.

The following information is derived from the FAA’s Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts.

A pilot launching for Hawaii proves the first few moments of any heavy or overweight takeoff are critical.

At approximately 1330 Central time, the airplane sustained substantial damage when it impacted terrain while maneuvering during an air show performance. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries. Visual conditions prevailed.

The airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted trees at about 1100 Eastern time during a landing attempt. The flight instructor was fatally injured; the student pilot and passenger were seriously injured. Visual conditions prevailed.