Pilots warned about fuel after crash

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 19

Pilots warned about fuel after crash

PA Wellington Pilots have been warned to be .careful when refuelling their planes, after a pilot changed in error to an empty fuel tank while in flight. The pilot, aged 38, escaped the resulting crash in a farm paddock at Kaikohe with minor injuries, but his Piper PA22 was badly damaged. A Ministry of Transport air accident report says that the engine failure, which led to the plane’s unexpected landing, was caused by fuel starvation when an empty fuel tank was selected soon after take-off.

The accident happened on May 24 when the pilot was attempting a 10-minute

flight to a private airstrip. The Ministry report said that the practice of changing fuel tanks during the early phase of flight should be avoided whenever possible.

This was because engine failure caused by interruption of the fuel supply in such a situation did not allow time for rational diagnosis and rectification. In the Kaikohe incident, the pilot was about 100 metres above the ground when he changed the plane’s fuel selector from the left to the right tank. “Shortly afterwards the engine ceased firing,” said the Ministry report. The pilot changed the fuel selector back to the left

tank and tried to restart the engine, but failed. He then turned back to the right tank, but was again unsuccessful.

It was not possible to glide to the aerodrome so a forced landing was made in a nearby paddock. The plane landed heavily and ran through a fence. The pilot, whose flying experience totalled 860 hours, was restrained only by a lap strap, and suffered face and head cuts.

The report said that on the previous day the plane had flown for nearly two hours since refueling. The pilot said that he deliberately ran the left tank dry during this flight as was his custom.