
Pilot Mental Health
Mental health has become a hot topic in the past couple of years, and that includes pilot mental health. My recent review of NTSB accident reports includes a crash attributed to pilot suicide in each year 2021, 2022, and 2023. Perhaps partly in response to this, NAFI is presenting a webinar on April 3 titled, "Clinical Aspects of Pilot Mental Health". Click here to see the info on FAASafety.gov.
More on Props vs. People
We should all know better by now, but some people refuse to learn. There have been two more recent incidents of people receiving serious injuries by moving into a spinning prop. One involved a passenger and the other involved the pilot. Let's all resolve to never exit the airplane nor allow anyone else to exit the airplane, while the engine is running.
(Yet Another) New Episode of "Old Pilot Tips"
Our new Episode 18 of "Old Pilot Tips" is now available. The topic of this under one-minute video provides a reminder about seat latches and when not to adjust the seat. Click here to view it on YouTube.
Allergy Season is Coming - Be Cautious and Prepared
Allergy medications can significantly lower a pilot's capability to effectively perform necessary tasks safely. We have a course for that! "The Terrible Triad - Stress, Fatigue, and Medication" addresses some critical safety issues and is valid for FAA Wings credit upon completion. Click here for the free, online course sponsored by Avemco.
Thanks for a great Syracuse Safety Stand Down!
Thanks to the organizers, sponsors, and of course the attendees at the Syracuse Safety Stand Down on March 23! Weather played the antagonist role by providing the worst snowstorm of the season along with a morning temperature of 11 degrees F. In spite of that, all presenters arrived on time and most of the attendee seats were filled. I enjoyed speaking with many pilots and I appreciate the warm reception my delivery of "Double-D Dangers: Beware the Delayed Decision" received.
Upcoming Live In-Person and Virtual Events
On Tuesday April 9, I will be the guest presenter on the American Bonanza Society Webinar Series. The topic is "Beware the Double-D Danger." For more information, click here.
On Wednesday, April 10, I will do a virtual presentation of "The Big E - Handling the Inflight Emergency." for the Grasshopper Flying Club of Hudson Valley, NY.
On Wednesday May 8, I will be in Lancaster, NY at EAA chapter 46 to present Dealing with the Big E - Surviving the Inflight Emergency."
On Saturday, June 1, I will present "Combatting Mental Inertia" to the spring meeting of the NY-NJ 99's in Binghamton, NY.
Thanks to Avemco Insurance for sponsoring all of my live presentations and for providing some very nice giveaway items for attendees at in-person events.
Planning an Aviation Event?
I have updated my presentation equipment and am open to conducting both live, on-site and virtual events. If you have an upcoming event and would like to have me deliver one of my presentations, please contact me at gene@genebenon.com. Click here to download my current presentation catalog.

The following is reprinted from the February 2024 Issue 529 of the NASA CALLBACK series.
A Hazardous Oversight
This small jet pilot began the flight with an oversight. The situation clearly worsened before it improved.
■ My planned flight was from ZZZ1 to ZZZ2. Due to a deviation from my standard operating procedure, I left the towbar attached to the aircraft, causing a loss of rudder control and the aircraft to bank at 45 degrees upon takeoff. This continued for approximately 20 minutes, and at that time, I had the right engine flameout. After the flameout, I regained better control of the aircraft and was able to successfully land at ZZZ. I had [requested priority handling] with ZZZ Approach. I do not believe this was an accident, as there was no visible damage to the aircraft or any injuries. I intend to better follow my SOPs, including not allowing the tow vehicle to be moved without removing the towbar from the aircraft and moving the towbar to a safe location.
GB Note: Starting the engine or even taking off with the tow bar still attached is unfortunately not uncommon. We do not often read about the tow bar events because they usually do not result in serious accidents. But, at worst they have the potential to cause a bad ending and at the least, they frequently result in many thousands of dollars in airplane damage. For a quick review, click here to check out Episode 8 of our "Old Pilot Tips" series titled, "Tow Bars!"

I Would Never Do That!
Full disclosure: this article is about avoiding the fuel exhaustion accident. If I had included “fuel exhaustion” in the title, 99% of the pilots would click it off thinking that it would not be relevant to them because “I would never do that!” Full confession: I would likely do the same. I have more than 15,000 hours and I know better than to run out of fuel. Or do I know better?
I recently did a search on the NTSB database for general aviation crashes that involved an airplane and resulted in either fatal or serious injuries. The date range was January 1, 2022 to the present with the specification that the investigation had been completed. I then looked for common causes in the probable cause finding. I was surprised that fuel exhaustion was the most common cause with six crashes listed.
My quick assumption was that the pilots involved were young, careless, and inexperienced. We all know the old adage about “ASSUME.” It was a bit disturbing that the ages of those six pilots ranged from 34 to 79, certification ranged from private pilot to ATP/CFI, and flight experience ranged from 109 hours to 21,764 hours. Two of the six pilots were ATP/CFI, one was a commercial pilot, and three were private pilots. Four of the six pilots were more than 70 years of age.
Five of the six crashes listed preflight planning in the probable cause finding. The other crash stated time spent diverting around weather and not monitoring the fuel remaining.
Two thirds of the accident pilots being over age 70 raises an eyebrow, but I am not sure of its relevance. My human factors studies have certainly made me keenly aware of cognitive decline with age. But the causes of these crashes do not align well with the specific areas commonly found in early cognitive decline. I think it is more likely that the age of these pilots is reasonably representative of the active general aviation pilots.
My takeaway from this is that we are all human and can be susceptible to several dangerous influencers. We can let complacency sway us from thorough flight planning. We can let optimism bias convince us that everything will be fine and that fuel exhaustion only happens to other pilots. Our illusory superiority can convince us that we are smarter than other pilots and we will figure things out along the way.
If it happened to these six pilots it can happen to any of us if we are not vigilant. Most pilots reading this likely fall into the age, certification level, and the experience ranges of these pilots. So, let’s not be lax in our flight planning and our tracking of the fuel remaining.

Accidents discussed in this section are presented in the hope that pilots can learn from the misfortune of others and perhaps avoid an accident. It is easy to read an accident report and dismiss the cause as carelessness or as a dumb mistake. But let's remember that the accident pilot did not get up in the morning and say, "Gee, I think I'll go have an accident today." Nearly all pilots believe that they are safe. Honest introspection frequently reveals that on some occasion, we might have traveled down that same accident path.

NTSB Photo
The 21,000+ hour ATP-CFI, age 79 pilot was seriously injured as a result of a fuel exhaustion crash. The crash occurred in Florida in March 2023. The NTSB accident report provides the following account of the crash: "The pilot was flying to an airport that was about 33 nautical miles away from the departure airport, and after takeoff climbed to an altitude of 2,000 ft. before descending to 1,500 ft. About 8 minutes into the flight the airplane’s engine "coughed and stopped running." In response, the pilot switched the fuel selector to the other tank, turned on the boost pump and wingtip fuel tank pumps, and attempted to restart the engine, but was unsuccessful. He then returned the fuel selector back to the original tank and made another attempt to restart the engine, but that effort was similarly unsuccessful. The pilot then selected a field and performed a forced landing. During the landing the airplane struck a tree, seriously injuring the pilot and substantially damaging the fuselage and left wing."
The NTSB report also includes the following: "The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane, and in a postaccident telephone interview stated that the airplane, "…just didn’t have enough fuel."

NTSB Photo
The NTSB probable cause finding states: "The pilot’s inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion."
We could look at the pilot's age and write this crash off as another aging pilot flying with diminished ability. We could look at all the flight hours and write the crash off as complacency. We could look at all the ratings and write the crash off as overconfidence. We cannot know, with the information available to us, why this pilot took off with only fuel for about 8 minutes of engine power.
But we do know that the crash happened and that it was caused by human error on the part of the highly experienced pilot. Our lesson is that none of us are immune from our humanness and that we all must strictly adhere to safe operating practices and regulations. And yes, we must do it for every flight, without exception.
Click here to download the accident report from the NTSB website.

Accidents discussed in this section are presented in the hope that pilots can learn from the misfortune of others and perhaps avoid an accident. It is easy to read an accident report and dismiss the cause as carelessness or as a dumb mistake. But let's remember that the accident pilot did not get up in the morning and say, "Gee, I think I'll go have an accident today." Nearly all pilots believe that they are safe. Honest introspection frequently reveals that on some occasion, we might have traveled down that same accident path.

NTSB Photo
The 73--year-old, 339-hour, private pilot and a passenger were both seriously injured in the crash of this Cessna Cardinal. The crash occurred in North Carolina in September 2022. The NTSB accident report begins: "The pilot was returning from a cross-country flight and planned to stop for fuel along the way; however, due to deteriorating weather conditions along his route of flight, he was unable to stop. The pilot then became distracted trying to avoid weather when the airplane’s engine lost power. The pilot further described that, “We should have landed at the nearest clear airport but got fixated on dodging rain clouds causing time consuming maneuvers to go around the storms into headwinds and unaware of fuel reserves.” He subsequently performed a forced landing to a field and struck a ditch resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane’s intact fuel tanks revealed they were empty of useable fuel. Given this information, it is likely that during the unplanned deviations around weather, the airplane’s usable fuel supply was exhausted, which resulted in the total loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing."

NTSB Photo
The NTSB probable cause finding states: "The pilot's inadequate preflight and inflight planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion."
The pilot provided, in the recommendation section of a form submitted to the NTSB, "After departing KFFA we encountered isolated rain clouds and we were dodging them. Our fuel stop was raining. We should have landed at the nearest clear airport but we got fixated with dodging rain clouds causing time consuming maneuvers to go around the storms into headwinds and unaware of fuel reserves."
In the first crash discussed above, we saw a 21,000+ hour pilot crash due to fuel exhaustion. Here we see a 339-hour pilot also crash due to fuel exhaustion. The lesson is that whether the logbook is fat or thin, we can all be victims of our humanness and we must stick to practices and procedures we have learned to keep us safe.
For a tip from an old pilot, consider this. Do not think of fuel as gallons. Think if it as hours and minutes. Note the takeoff time and add the fuel in the tanks (hours and minutes) to the departure time to establish a time (probably an optimistic one) at which the fuel will be exhausted and the airplane will become ominously quiet. Back that time up by at least the reserve required by the regulations and then a bit more for safety. Now we have a time at which the airplane must be on the ground. If it is not, we must seek the nearest suitable airport and land. Monitor the time and in addition to the fuel gages. If appropriate and possible, set a timer to sound an alert or to vibrate a few minutes before the airplane reaches the time that the airplane begins using the reserve fuel.
Click here to download the accident report from the NTSB website.

Accidents discussed in this section are presented in the hope that pilots can learn from the misfortune of others and perhaps avoid an accident. It is easy to read an accident report and dismiss the cause as carelessness or as a dumb mistake. But let's remember that the accident pilot did not get up in the morning and say, "Gee, I think I'll go have an accident today." Nearly all pilots believe that they are safe. Honest introspection frequently reveals that on some occasion, we might have traveled down that same accident path.
This mishap occurred in New Mexico in October 2022. The airplane was a Piper Malibu Mirage (PA 46-350P). The 69-year-old pilot and his passenger were not injured. the NTSB report includes the following: "As the pilot approached the destination airport, the wind was reported as light and variable. He stated that as he flew the visual approach to runway 4 and prepared to land, he encountered a major gust of wind and elected to perform a go-around. The pilot reported that he applied full engine power, retracted the landing gear and flaps, and initiated a climb when the “stall shaker started shaking”. The pilot lowered the nose to prevent the airplane from stalling and initiated a gear-up landing to an open field adjacent to the runway."

NTSB Photo
This crash happened in July 2023. The 34-year-old, 109 hour private and his passenger were seriously injured when the Cessna 177 Cardinal ran out of fuel and crashed just short of the airport of intended landing. The NTSB accident report begins as follows: "The pilot and the passenger were conducting a personal cross-country flight. While on approach to the airport, which was a planned fuel stop, the airplane sustained a total loss of engine power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a corn field and the airplane came to rest nose-down. The two occupants were extracted from the airplane by first responders. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage."

NTSB Photo
The NTSB report continues: "The pilot reported to first responders that the airplane “ran out of fuel.” The pilot did not report any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation."

NTSB Photo
The NTSB probable Cause finding States, "The pilot’s improper fuel planning, that resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion, and a subsequent forced landing."

NTSB Photo
The straight line distance from the destination airport to the airport of intended landing is approximately 252 nm. The pilot stated that he used a calibrated dipstick to check the fuel prior to departure and that he determined the fuel load to be 43.5 gallons. He stated that the fuel totalizer indicated 10.5 gph of fuel consumption. He does not say what rate of fuel consumption was used during his preflight planning, but he stated that he anticipated total fuel consumption for the flight to be about 23 gallons. If his assessment of the fuel onboard was accurate at 43.5 gallons, at 10.5 gph the airplane should have had an endurance of more than 4 hours. We know that the Cessna Cardinal is not the fastest airplane around and we do not know about any headwind and the expected fuel consumption was perhaps a bit low, but a flight of 252 nautical miles, should require not more than 2 1/2 hours to complete. The NTSB report indicates a departure time of 10:10 AM local time and the crash time at 12:30 PM local time (both locations are in the Central time zone). That is 2 hours 20 minutes flying time.
The image below is from the report filed by the pilot and submitted to the NTSB.

Image of "NARRATIVE HISTORY OF FLIGHT" section of NTSB form submitted by the pilot
So, there is a piece of the puzzle that we do not know. The NTSB pinned the crash squarely on the pilot's preflight planning. The statement provided by the pilot does not support that finding. Was the pilot's measurement of the fuel onboard incorrect? Did they do some off-route sightseeing along the way. Was there a fuel leak? Even a complete lack of leaning the mixture would not increase the fuel consumption enough to consume all the calculated fuel onboard in 2 hours 20 minutes. We cannot know the answer based in the information provided.
The lesson is first, that regardless of certification level or flight hours logged, we must all be vigilant of our fuel status as we fly. Time is generally the most accurate, frequent scanning of the fuel gages is also necessary. Had the pilot been monitoring both fuel gages along the way, the discrepancy would have been noticeable. Any discrepancy between fuel quantity expected and what is indicated should be sufficient to land at the nearest suitable airport to investigate.
Click here to download the accident report from the NTSB website.
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