Australian Flying - July 2018

Jim’s Analysis

Cessna singles have slightly iffy

fuel systems. No, there is nothing

really wrong with them, but they

do need a bit of understanding.

This is particularly important

when you want to know exactly

where the fuel is, and how to get it

to the engine.

This guy may have had more

than an hour’s fuel in the tanks

when the engine died of thirst,

but either didn’t really understand

the fuel system, or didn’t have his

mind on fuel management.

Yes, I have been down this road

before, but Cessna fuel accidents

keep happening, so I will keep

nagging about it. We will look at

this accident first, and then think

about some other aspects of fuel

management, mainly for Cessnas.

The pilot made two life-

threatening mistakes. Firstly, he

seemed to believe the fuel gauges.

Be Careful of

the Cross-feed

Date of Accident: 10 August 2006

Time of Accident: 1540Z

Aircraft Registration: ZS-NUY

Type of Aircraft: Cessna T210M

Pilot Licence: Commercial

Licence Valid: Ye s

Age: 31

Total Flying Hours: 2143.6

Hours on Type: 456.5

Last point of departure: Witbank

Aerodrome (FAWI)

Next point of intended landing:

Kitty Hawk Aerodrome (FAKT)

Location of the accident site:

On an open eld approximately

0.3 nm east of Kitty Hawk

Aerodrome

Meteorological Information:

The weather was ne;

Temperature: 28°C

Wind: NNW/Calm

Number of people on board: 1+2

Number of people injured: 1

Number of people killed: 0

SYNOPSIS

On the morning of 10 August

2006, the pilot departed from

Wonderboom Aerodrome

on a private light to Ulundi

Aerodrome in KwaZulu-

Natal. En route, he landed

at Kitty Hawk to pick up

two passengers, one of

whom was an employee of

a vehicle tracking company.

He then proceeded to

Witbank Aerodrome, where

he collected another

two passengers. From

Witbank, they headed

for Ulundi Aerodrome,

where they landed at

about 0900Z after an

uneventful flight.

At approximately

1230Z, the pilot,

accompanied by the

same passengers,

departed from Ulundi

Aerodrome on the

return light. He landed

back at Witbank and dropped

off two passengers, and then

took off for Kitty Hawk to drop

off the remaining two. After

lying for about 15 minutes, he

started the descent for Kitty

Hawk with full laps and at

an indicated air speed (IAS)

of 65 to 70 kts. Directly after he

made a radio call on frequency

120.65 MHz, reporting right base

for landing at Kitty Hawk, the

engine suddenly lost power and

subsequently failed.

He immediately switched

the fuel selector to the opposite

fuel tank and turned on the

boost pumps to restore engine

power, but to no avail. As the

aircraft was losing height and

unable to glide safely for landing

on Runway 01 at Kitty Hawk

because of power lines ahead,

the pilot executed a forced

landing on a grass eld east of

the runway. The aircraft landed

with the undercarriage retracted,

skidded for about 40 metres

and ground-looped through 90°

before coming to rest.

The aircraft sustained damage

to the right wingtip, underside

of the fuselage and propeller

blades. The pilot and passenger

seated in the front seats were

unhurt, but the vehicle tracking

company employee, who was

seated in the left-hand rear seat,

sustained injuries to her back,

neck and pelvis.

PROBABLE CAUSE

The fuel tank outlets became

uncovered when the pilot

manoeuvred the aircraft as the

fuel tanks were less than 1/4 full.

This caused fuel starvation and

engine stoppage.

CAA ACCIDENT REPORT SUMMARY

This discussion contains extracts from the

SACAA’s accident report. It is compiled in

the interest of promoting aviation safety

and not to establish legal liability.

JIM DAVIS

learn?

What can we

Jim Davis has 15,000 hours of immensely varied

lying experience, including 10,000 hours civil and

military lying instruction. He is an established

author, his current projects being an instructors’

manual and a collection of Air Accident analyses,

called ‘Choose not to Crash’.

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AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018