Originally Posted by
Clare Prop
It's a Piper Archer VH-FEY and the pilot is the owner. She has a CPL, is very capable and handled the ditching really well.
She owned that aeroplane, knew it inside out and did her hour building in it including adventures into remote areas.. She keeps meticulous fuel logs. So what happened? Maybe we'll never know, but it's been disappointing to see how many on social media have had said that being female is a contributing factor in "running out of fuel", I would dare any of them to say it to her face! Or mine!
Apart from running the tank in use dry, it would appear. Then neglecting to change tanks while troubleshooting...Female or not. CPL or not. If you don't change tanks when you run the selected one dry, you're going to star in your very own ATSB report. And PPrune thread, too it would seem...
FWIW,
my fuel management strategy is based on laziness with a dose of forgetfulness. Takeoff and climb on one tank. Once at TOC, switch to the other tank and fly for 165 minutes. At the 160 minute mark, monitor fuel pressure, have my hand on or near the fuel valve and get ready to switch. When pressure drops and engine stumbles, change tanks. No balancing the tanks, no "fly 30 minutes and swap over" while trying to remember what level is in what tank. I change once and that's
it. YMMV - but I'd like to think such a method would have avoided this.
Originally Posted by The ATSB
n 20 April 2023, a Piper Archer single-engine light aircraft departed Carnarvon for a private flight to Jandakot, via Geraldton. About 10 km north of Fremantle, engine power subsided then recovered a number of times.
“Unable to maintain height, the pilot decided to turn into wind for a forced landing on the adjacent Leighton Beach, but then opted to ditch into the ocean after observing a number of people on the beach,” ATSB Director Transport Safety Stuart Macleod said.
After a successful ditching, the uninjured pilot and passenger were able to egress and swim to shore. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The ATSB’s investigation concluded the pilot had left Carnarvon with enough fuel on board for the planned flight, but did not carry out regular fuel quantity checks in accordance with regulatory guidance, or keep a written log of fuel consumed from each tank during the flight.
“The engine power issues probably occurred due to a lack of fuel in the selected right tank,” Mr Macleod said. “The pilot responded to power anomalies by carrying out some of the emergency procedures, but did not select the other – left – tank, which contained usable fuel.”
Source