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Pilot Proficiency

Aftermath: Failure to Land

Peter Garrison
Verified
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • An instrument-rated pilot, flying in deteriorating weather, made multiple unsuccessful instrument approaches at various airports, critically depleting his fuel reserves.
  • Despite increasingly dire circumstances, including critically low fuel and repeated failed approaches, the pilot significantly delayed declaring an emergency.
  • He eventually declared "out of fuel" minutes before crashing, resulting in his death and the airplane's destruction.
  • The NTSB concluded the crash was due to the pilot's failure to land at airports with adequate procedures and his delay in declaring a fuel-related emergency.
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The 600-hour, instrument-rated pilot of a Piper Arrow left Georgia early on a Sunday afternoon for Delaware, where he was scheduled to perform a surgery the following day. The forecast weather at the destination and nearby airports was near minimums; the pilot filed Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) as his alternate.

As he approached his filed destination of Summit Airport (EVY) in Middletown, Delaware, he got a call from the Dover Air Force Base approach controller who was working him.

Peter Garrison

Peter Garrison taught himself to use a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He began contributing to FLYING in 1968, and he continues to share his columns, ""Technicalities"" and ""Aftermath,"" with FLYING readers.

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