Cirrus BRS Saves Pilot from Stupid Pilot Trick.

[BrianL99]

Out of fuel, over the ocean. You would think a professional ferry pilot with the latest and greatest equipment, could manage fuel.

Nice video from the U. S. Coast Guard


http://www.dvidshub.net/video/388574/pi ... MbVAYrF_4M

[snaproll]

.

[BrianL99]

What I find particularly interesting, at least from the first reports ...

It was a text book example of a Parachute deployment and the options it offers a pilot in trouble.

A guy flying a Cessna in the same area, went down a few hours earlier and wasn't as lucky ... no parachute.

[MrMorden]

My understanding is this was a mechanical failure of the fuel selector. Fuel starvation, not fuel exhaustion. Not really a stupid pilot trick, just (bad) luck of the draw.

Glad for the excellent outcome for the pilot.

[Wm.Ince]

Another avoidable statistic ... waste of a good airplane ... This pilot should fly seaplanes...

Out of fuel, over the ocean. You would think a professional ferry pilot with the latest and greatest equipment, could manage fuel.

I am disappointed in both of you guys . . . you should know better than to judge this guy before knowing all the facts of the accident.
Where is your supporting evidence that this pilot performed a "Stupid Pilot Trick?"

Before passing any judgement, why not let the accident investigation team determined exactly what happened.
We were not there. There is probably a lot more to this story than simply mismanaging fuel.

There seems to be a penchant, among some pilots, to quickly judge other pilots . . . before knowing all the facts.
In my 45 years of aviation, I never have been able to figure out why.

Maybe it's ego.

[bottleworks]

(I'm gone. Everything deleted! Can't stand the ignorant data spread here).

[FastEddieB]

Some famous book recommends, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

This pilot did SO much right it's depressing to have people jumping on him already.

In the middle if the ocean you go to switch from one tank to another and the handle snaps off in your hand. Maybe you have an appropriate tool. Maybe not. Maybe that's what happened. Maybe not.

But it was reported to be a mechanical problem. Hence any reference in the thread title to stupidity is inappropriate.

Not a stuck valve, but...

I think I've posted about this before.

Ferrying a Cessna cropduster we had the hopper rigged to carry fuel. Usually put 150 gals up there out of a possible 300. That's plus the 50 in the wings.

One leg I smelled fuel and saw a steady drip from the valve. Jiggling it I found upward pressure on it stopped the leak. Fortunately within reach I had both a bungee and some tywraps.

Viola!



In any case, I really doubt I'd be flexible enough to pull that off now!

[BrianL99]

Cirrus,jpg.jpg (82.79 KiB) Viewed 6628 times

Every news source that I know of, is reporting both airplanes ran out of fuel. If there's been mention of a equipment failure, I haven't seen it.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pilo ... i-28478682

[FastEddieB]

Nice summary in The Atlantic magazine by Jim Fallows, a COPA member:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... ute/384837

Relevant portion:

"On yesterday's flight, the pilot discovered that a valve from the extra fuel tanks was jammed or broken. So he was fated to run out of gas before reaching Hawaii. After several hours of debugging and discussion with his flight-managers by radio, as the fuel level dwindled he decided to fly as close as possible to a cruise ship (which was alerted) and then pull the Cirrus's unique whole-airplane parachute and come down to the sea for rescue by the ship."

[bottleworks]

(I'm gone. Everything deleted! Can't stand the ignorant data spread here).

[Merlinspop]

Cirrus,jpg.jpg

Every news source that I know of, is reporting both airplanes ran out of fuel. If there's been mention of a equipment failure, I haven't seen it.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pilo ... i-28478682

News agencies reporting what makes for a better headline or soundbite rather than boring facts? That never happens.

[FastEddieB]

A Cirrus as typically set up for such a flight:



The seats are shipped seperately to make room for the fuel - except for the pilot's of course.

These are typically very professional operations. Fuel requirements and reserves are very carefully calculated.

[Merlinspop]

Bill Cox writes a lot of stories from his overseas delivery gigs. I have fuzzy recall of a story about a ferry flight over the Pacific where everything was going great, until he encountered a significant headwind...AFTER he passed the point of no return. He made it, but on fumes.

[MrMorden]

I think I've posted about this before.

Ferrying a Cessna cropduster we had the hopper rigged to carry fuel. Usually put 150 gals up there out of a possible 300. That's plus the 50 in the wings.

One leg I smelled fuel and saw a steady drip from the valve. Jiggling it I found upward pressure on it stopped the leak. Fortunately within reach I had both a bungee and some tywraps.

Viola!

Now for the million dollar question...after you came up with your valve fix, at the end of that leg of the ferry...did you take off again with the valve in that condition?

[FastEddieB]

Now for the million dollar question...after you came up with your valve fix, at the end of that leg of the ferry...did you take off again with the valve in that condition?

I was just thinking about this, more or less.

It was over 30 years ago, so if I didn't have the photo to remind me, I don't know if I'd even remember it at all.

What I was thinking about was whether I accomplished the fix in the air or on the ground - I really don't remember.

But since you asked such a high value question, I almost certainly finished the flight with the jury-rigged fix. Probably not the Most Conservative Action, but ferry pilots tend to be the "can do" type.

One more ferry incident (actually two related to each other) when I have time later.