Flight Training - August 2022 - 14

PREFLIGHT FLIGHT LESSON
BY CAMDEN WALTERS
RUNNING ON EMPTY
WHAT WAS I THINKING? CLEARLY, I WASN'T
WHAT HAPPENED
Sure, the 152 was airworthy,
but the fact that the aircraft
changed while my
mindset did not put me
in a position I should
have never been in.
I had at least that in the tanks, judging
from the sloshing I could hear as I rocked
the wings. We took off for what was, in
retrospect, the longest 14 nm of my life.
Once airborne, I throttled back, leaned the
mixture, kept my eyes on constant scan
for a suitable landing place should I need
one, and barely heard the engine over my
pounding heart. Several minutes later, we
landed at our fuel oasis.
It was an odd sound, the fuel making
a distinct metallic patter-patter as it
splashed onto the bare metal of the nearempty
tanks below.
I think back on that morning with a
IT WAS TO BE A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND ACROSS THE EAST COAST
as a high-pressure system dominated the area-perfect for the
cross-country flight from my home base in Northern Virginia to
a skydiving event in South Carolina. I reserved the Cessna 172
with extended-range tanks from my local flight school months in
advance to ensure I had the space, weight, and endurance needed
to get myself and a friend to our destination. Unfortunately, the
flight school called the day before to inform me the 172 was down
for maintenance. I was offered an alternative: a Cessna 152.
I recalculated the weight and balance and fuel endurance
and came down to one plausible option: cut the amount of fuel
we took off with to keep the airplane below its maximum gross
weight. I had to fly a little over an hour to pick up my friend, so I
would add a couple gallons of fuel, but not top off.
The flight to South Carolina was smooth. It was only within
the last 20 minutes of the flight that I started to get that nagging
voice in the back of my head. Should I land short or push
through? The estimated time en route was fairly accurate, I reasoned,
and maybe I would barely dip into my reserves. I pushed
on and landed. Maybe I was worried about nothing?
When we packed up the 152 Monday morning I called the
FBO for fuel. " Our fuel man won't be here until one o'clock, " I
was told. That was three hours away! No, I wanted to get home
at a reasonable time. I scoured my sectional for a nearby airport
and found one an easy 14 nautical miles away. I reasoned that
the short hop would burn less than a gallon of fuel, and surely
14
FLIGHT TRAINING AUGUST 2022
SAFETY
Of all the flighPAVE CHECKt risk
assessment tools the
FAA offers during
training, the acronym
PAVE is one of the
most effective. It asks
you to consider these
circumstances as you
plan your flight: Pilot
(are you fit for your
flight?); Aircraft (is the
airplane airworthy?);
enVironment (check
the weather!); and
External pressures
(don't let get-there-itis
take over).
Do you have a
Flight Lesson to
share with others?
Email your story to
flighttraining@aopa.
org with the subject
line " Flight Lesson. "
sickening feeling in my stomach. I had
always been such a careful planner; what
led me to that reckless decision? And
why was I selfish enough to put a trusting
passenger and friend at such risk?
Clearly some external pressures were
at play, but the aircraft was pivotal. Sure,
the 152 was airworthy, but the fact that the
aircraft changed while my mindset did not
put me in a position I should have never
been in. I had failed to shift my mind that
this trip had become a longer, two-stop
cross-country.
What haunts me the most is to think
what would've happened if the math
didn't work out. What if my headwind
component on the trip down was just a
knot or two more? What if I had leaned
the mixture one quarter turn less? What
if the numbers from the book weren't
exactly like real life (as is almost always
the case)?
I hope these questions always haunt
me. Never again will I stack those cards in
such a careless way. Never again will I bet
my life on one less puff of headwind.
TOP LEFT: ALEX WILLIAMSON; ABOVE: STEVE KARP
Flight Training - August 2022

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