At approximately 11:00 MST, a Cessna P210N was damaged in a forced landing near Gillette, but the two occupants were not injured. The pilot said he had ordered the plane refueled the day before for a flight from Pontiac, Mich., to Sheridan, Wyo., and records showed 95 gallons were added to the tanks. He calculated the 1,026 nm flight would take 5.7 hours and concluded he would land at Sheridan with more than an hour of fuel remaining. When the airplane was one hour from the destination, he determined that the fuel gauges looked suspiciously low and he diverted to Gillette. The airplane ran out of fuel and landed in hilly terrain about a mile from the airport.
March 2, Gillette, Wyo. / Cessna 210
At approximately 11:00 MST, a Cessna P210N was damaged in a forced landing near Gillette, but the two occupants were not injured. The pilot said he had ordered the plane refueled the day before for a flight from Pontiac, Mich., to Sheridan, Wyo., and records showed 95 gallons were added to the tanks. He calculated the 1,026 nm flight would take 5.7 hours and concluded he would land at Sheridan with more than an hour of fuel remaining. When the airplane was one hour from the destination, he determined that the fuel gauges looked suspiciously low and he diverted to Gillette. The airplane ran out of fuel and landed in hilly terrain about a mile from the airport....
Key Takeaways:
- A Cessna P210N made a forced landing near Gillette due to fuel exhaustion, resulting in damage to the aircraft but no injuries to the two occupants.
- The pilot had refueled the day before for a long flight from Michigan to Wyoming, but miscalculated the fuel required for the 1,026 nm trip.
- After realizing the fuel was critically low an hour from the destination, the pilot attempted to divert to Gillette but ran out of fuel approximately one mile from the airport.
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