Man ditches plane in ocean after running out of gas

Big MAK · 10-08-2011, 06:04 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/08/us/haw...x.html?npt=NP1

How does someone not plan to have enough fuel? It's not like he was 10 miles or something, it was 100 miles. Oh well, cool landing vid.

Big MAK · 10-08-2011, 06:05 PM

Trying to put in the video...

BetterThanI · 10-08-2011, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big MAK

How does someone not plan to have enough fuel? It's not like he was 10 miles or something, it was 100 miles. Oh well, cool landing vid.

Fuel calculation is pretty tricky with planes, especially small ones. It's a trade-off: more fuel equals more weight equals slower plane. Pilots usually try to use the minimum amount of fuel necessary to make the trip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_...el_calculation

Carl Herrera · 10-08-2011, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterThanI

Fuel calculation is pretty tricky with planes, especially small ones. It's a trade-off: more fuel equals more weight equals slower plane. Pilots usually try to use the minimum amount of fuel necessary to make the trip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_...el_calculation

Another example of the failure of the American education system. Or, indeed, of America itself.

Big MAK · 10-08-2011, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterThanI

Fuel calculation is pretty tricky with planes, especially small ones. It's a trade-off: more fuel equals more weight equals slower plane. Pilots usually try to use the minimum amount of fuel necessary to make the trip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_...el_calculation

Yeah, obviously it's not as easy as planning how much gas you'll need for a car trip to Dallas, but still, 100 miles off is a great deal off... Not to mention you have to account for additional air time if you can't immediately land on the run way.

Maybe the wind was much much stronger than predicted...

TheTruth · 10-10-2011, 08:55 AM

According to this article he was 13 miles out so it may have well been a headwind miscalculation.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/1...rgency-landing

FAA laws I believe call for pilots to fuel plan for their flights to have an extra 30 mins of fuel during the day and 45 mins at night past their intended destination.

BetterThanI · 10-10-2011, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheTruth

According to this article he was 13 miles out so it may have well been a headwind miscalculation.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/1...rgency-landing

FAA laws I believe call for pilots to fuel plan for their flights to have an extra 30 mins of fuel during the day and 45 mins at night past their intended destination.

Headwinds, air temp, air pressure...all of these can affect fuel consumption, and not all of them are 100% predictable. It's quite possible he had 30 mins of extra fuel and burned through it all. There are a whole series of possible causes for this, and pilot error is only one of them. Until the FAA investigates, we'll never know.

DonkeyMagic · 10-10-2011, 09:49 AM

nice landing.