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, Wyoming, damaging the aircraft but leaving its two occupants uninjured.
- The incident was caused by the aircraft running out of fuel, despite the pilot having ordered 95 gallons the day before for a calculated 5.7-hour flight.
- The pilot diverted to Gillette after noticing critically low fuel gauges an hour from the original destination, but the plane ran out of fuel about a mile from the alternate airport.
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