Aftermath: How Much Fuel, Really?

Peter Garrison

Wednesday, September 09, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A King Air crashed due to fuel exhaustion, killing both occupants, after the pilot appeared to rely on a faulty fuel totalizer that displayed significantly inaccurate fuel remaining.
The pilot's habit of adding only specific amounts of fuel for short flights, rather than fully topping off, prevented proper recalibration of the totalizer, leading to a large discrepancy with actual fuel levels.
The incident underscores the critical importance of cross-referencing all available fuel indications (gauges, totalizer, and flight planning calculations) and regularly topping off tanks to ensure totalizer accuracy and prevent fuel exhaustion.

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The King Air had been airborne for just 30 minutes, en route from Pine Bluff to Bentonville in Arkansas, when it began its descent from 16,500 feet. The weather was clear, and the 3,400-hour private pilot, 72, was on VFR flight following with Razorback Approach at Fort Smith.

Nine minutes after leaving 16.5, he told the controller that he wanted to change his destination to Fayetteville.