Incident Details
During a flight from Kalgoorlie, the pilot experienced a steady decrease in fuel gauge indications. Approximately 3 hours and 38 minutes into the flight, the engine began to reduce power due to fuel exhaustion. The aircraft was about 72 km from the intended landing point at that time. The pilot successfully executed a forced landing.
Pre-flight Planning
The pilot's pre-flight planning was not consistent with regulatory requirements for flight planning and preparation, nor with the operator's electronic flight bag administration and in-flight fuel management procedures. The pilot expected the aircraft's endurance to be 4 hours, based on the belief that the usable fuel capacity and fuel consumption of TUX (the aircraft registration) were unchanged from 182 litres, as when the pilot operated it before its removal from line in January 2017. The pilot did not detect changes to the flight manual, fuel calibration card, or tank placards that indicated a reduced fuel capacity following installation of new wings and recalibration of the fuel system. Since this was TUX's first flight after return to service, no Trip Sheet was available to alert the pilot to the reduced capacity.
In-flight Fuel Management
During the flight, the pilot observed lower-than-expected fuel gauge readings but discounted their accuracy. The pilot's in-flight fuel management was likely based on the expected endurance rather than cross-checking fuel burn at 30-minute intervals as required by the operator's standard operating procedures. This contributed to the aircraft exhausting its usable fuel supply.
Fuel Capacity Change
The reduction in fuel tank capacity and corresponding decrease in endurance was not formally published in the operator's Air Maestro Safety Management System to alert line pilots before TUX returned to line on 5 January 2018. The absence of this information meant the pilot relied on outdated expectations.
Emergency Response
When the engine lost power, the pilot's experience instructing student pilots on engine restart procedures and practice forced landings aided in managing the workload and led to a successful forced landing.