AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2017 - 98

P&E

98 | 

NEVER AGAIN

about an hour and a half. A Skyhawk burns
around seven gallons an hour, so the engine
had burned around eleven gallons. If the
fuel added at my emergency pit stop totaled
39 or 40 gallons, that means that in an hour
and a half, I had lost more than 27 gallons
of raw fuel to the atmosphere.
I climbed up to check the fuel level and
the security of the caps once again. There
is no obvious fuel leak, I thought. This time,
I will be sure the caps are secure. What else
could it be?
I climbed back aboard, lit the fire once
again, then taxied for takeoff. Everything
normal, fuel tanks full again, I lifted effortlessly into the clear blue breezy sky.
As I came in sight of Bradford Airport
again, I noticed the fuel needles already
bouncing. Having just been through this
emergency not 30 minutes before, I decided
to land at Bradford as a precaution. I taxied to the corner of Bradford's commercial
ramp and climbed once again onto the
Skyhawk's step to assess my predicament.

The caps were secure, but the fuel level
was noticeably lower. Even with mostly
full tanks there was no obvious fuel leak.
Puzzled, I knew there was nothing I could
do about it here, so back into the cockpit
I climbed, determined to get to my destination. With a recently freshened fuel
supply, I knew I could make Niagara Falls,
although I monitored my reserves closely
en route. Finally, I landed safely at Niagara
Falls Regional Airport with fuel to spare.
Taxiing to the ramp, I was met by the
Skyhawk's new owner.
Either the rubber gasket on the left fuel
cap was old and dry, or the cap simply did
not fit properly, allowing the low pressure
above the wing to suck fuel from the tank.
Once the left tank was dry, the same low
pressure now sucked fuel from the right
tank via the fuel vent connecting the tanks.
My scan of the instruments apparently was
not adequate to keep up with the fuel leak.
Even if I had been more closely monitoring the fuel gauges, I might have

dismissed the reading as instrumentation error. After all, we learn to trust the
fuel gauges in only two modes: tanks full
and tanks empty. Plus, the Skyhawk had
just days before this flight emerged from
its annual.
I discovered then the meaning of
the earlier fear that kept me from flying
in IMC-the little voice that was telling
me that something was wrong with this
adventure. It occurred to me that if I had
succumbed to Henry's pressure, I would
have suffered the same fuel emergency-
in heavy IMC, in an unfamiliar airplane. I
would have had to declare an emergency,
enlisting the help of ATC for vectors to the
nearest field with an ILS.
Maybe it was a premonition that told
me that what I was being pressured to do
was not a good idea. I listened to the little
voice this time and it saved my life. AOPA
DOREN WESTON is a CFI, author, and retired

teacher living in Alexandria, Virginia.

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2017
