1992-06 · NASA ASRS report 213181
COMMERCIAL PLT OF SMA ACFT MADE AN EMER FORCED LNDG DUE TO FUEL STARVATION.
I DID MY PREFLT INSPECTION OF THE AIRPLANE. A CHK OF THE FUEL GAUGES INDICATED ENOUGH FUEL TO COMPLETE THE FLT UNDER VFR; IFR; OR NIGHT; WITH AN HR'S RESERVE. (UNDER EXISTING AND FORECAST WX). THERE WAS 100 POUNDS OF FUEL IN THE L TANK AND 205 POUNDS IN THE R TANK. MAX FUEL FLOW IS 105 POUNDS PER HR AT 2000 FT PRESSURE ALT. I DEPARTED IFR TO UGN AFTER CHANGING MY DEST TO UGN. I THEN DEPARTED UGN TO MKE TO PICK UP PAX AND BRING HIM BACK TO MDW. LEAVING MKE WITH PAX WE HAD 100 POUNDS OF FUEL IN THE L TANK AND A LITTLE MORE THAN 100 POUNDS IN THE R. TKOF AND CLB WERE UNEVENTFUL AT ABOUT THE 030 DEG RADIAL 5 NM FROM OBK; THE ENG STARTED TO DIE OUT. I IMMEDIATELY TURNED TOWARDS UGN ARPT; WHICH I KNEW WAS ABOUT 7 NM TO THE NE. WHILE I WAS TURNING; PAX TRIED TO REGAIN PWR BY TURNING ON THE ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP; SWITCHING FUEL TANKS FROM R TO L AND ADJUSTING THE MIXTURE AND THROTTLE. SEEING THAT WE WERE NOT REGAINING PWR; I SWITCHED THE FUEL SELECTOR FROM L TO R AND TRIED TO INCREASE FUEL FLOW BY ACTIVATING THE ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP. NOTHING WORKED. PAX ADVISED ME TO FLY THE AIRPLANE WHILE HE TRIED A RESTART. I CONCURRED. I SPOTTED A FIELD OFF MY L FRONT AND SET UP A GLIDE TOWARDS IT. DURING THIS TIME; PAX CONTINUED TO WORK ON THE AIRPLANE BY SWITCHING THE TANKS BACK TO THE L AND ADJUSTING THE THROTTLE AND MIXTURE. AT ABOUT 300 FT AGL; WE WERE COMMITTED TO THE FIELD. PAX AND I DECIDED TO LEAVE THE GEAR UP BECAUSE THE CONDITION OF THE FIELD WAS UNKNOWN TO US. PAX BEGAN SECURING THE ENG BY TURNING OFF THE FUEL SELECTOR; THE MIXTURE; AND BY BRINGING THE PROP TO A LOW RPM SETTING SO WE MAY HAVE GLIDED FURTHER. WHEN IT WAS SURE I COULD REACH THE FIELD; PAX ADDED FULL FLAPS. I ALSO ENTERED A FORWARD SLIP AND BEGAN S-TURNS TO FIND THE BEST TOUCHDOWN SPOT AND ALSO KEEP US OVER THE FIELD. AS THE DEP END OF THE FIELD DREW CLOSER; PAX AND I SAW TELEPHONE LINES. WE FELT THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION WAS TO PLACE IT ON THE GND INSTEAD OF SLOWING TO A STALL IN GND EFFECT. AT TOUCHDOWN; I LUNGED FORWARD AND GRAZED MY NOSE ON THE CTL WHEEL. PAX AND I WERE UNINJURED. AFTER STOPPING; WE EVACUATED THE ACFT DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF FIRE. WHEN THE THREAT OF FIRE WAS GONE; WE RETURNED TO THE AIRPLANE AND TRIED TO REACH SOMEONE ON 121.5; CHICAGO APCH (120.55); AND KANKAKEE RADIO (122.55). NO ONE ANSWERED. SINCE WE WERE SAFE AND UNINJURED; WE TURNED OF OUR ELT. WHICH HAD BEEN ACTIVATED. A LOOK DOWN AT THE FUEL GAUGE SHOWED 100 POUNDS IN BOTH THE L AND R TANKS. A VISUAL CHK OF FUEL SHOWED EMPTY IN THE R TANK AND ALMOST FULL IN THE L TANK. THE GAUGES WERE INCORRECT. WE DECIDED TO LOOK FOR A PHONE TO CALL THE FAA AND THE OWNER OF THE ACFT. I BELIEVE THE INCIDENT WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF I HAD VISUALLY CHKED THE FUEL SUPPLY. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS INCLUDED MY BEING IN A HURRY TO GO TO MKE AND NOT TOPPING OFF THE AIRPLANE. I WILL NEVER TRUST THE FUEL GAUGES AGAIN. NOTE: THE AIRPLANE SUFFERED MINIMAL PROP; COWL; AND GEAR DOOR DAMAGE. I CONSIDER THIS AN INCIDENT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T FALL UNDER THE ACFT ACCIDENT CATEGORY.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.