Fuel starvation (Baron near Senekal)

[Rotor Mad]

Apparently left Bethlehem for Bloemfontein and ran out of fuel at Senekal and botched the landing on the grass strip next to the N5
Happened on October 10

[SHREKKIE]

Very sad to see this. My Dad owned this Baron in the 1990's. I did my initilal Comm/IFR test in her!

[Whirly]

Senekal is still a long way from Bloemfontein.

Whirly.

[CWS]

IMG_0703.jpeg

Bethlehem is really close to Senekal? Tanks must have been pretty much dry on takeoff???
Rushed pre-flight?

[ddevos]

IMG_0703.jpeg
Bethlehem is really close to Senekal? Tanks must have been pretty much dry on takeoff???
Rushed pre-flight?

And with so little fuel left, the previous flight might have been a bit risky as well...

[Air Speed]

IMG_0703.jpeg
Bethlehem is really close to Senekal? Tanks must have been pretty much dry on takeoff???
Rushed pre-flight?

Fuel might have been stolen and they didnt notice ? Thats happened to me more than once but I picked it up on the gages and dip. You fill up the night before and so confidently take off with air in the tanks because fuel has been liberated during the night by persons unknown ?

[eurosurfer]

Was on 10 October, not 11. Wasn't a botched landing on a grass strip. Wheels would not come out on battery power on downwind leg. Circuit breaker popped. Landed on N5 and skidded off as there was no directional control. Very responsible person assured pilot repeatedly before flight that the tanks were filled up. The preflight was rushed, no excuse there.

[Rotor Mad]

Was on 10 October, not 11. Wasn't a botched landing on a grass strip. Wheels would not come out on battery power on downwind leg. Circuit breaker popped. Landed on N5 and skidded off as there was no directional control. Very responsible person assured pilot repeatedly before flight that the tanks were filled up. The preflight was rushed, no excuse there.

Not looking at the fuel gauges after take off ? That is part of the FREDA checks after take off

[Lood]

Phew!!! Taking off without looking into the fuel tanks = this…

Bethlehem to Senekal is only 37 nm. At Baron speeds, this would take around 12 minutes, meaning there could not have been anything more than 30 litres on board at start-up.

A fitting came loose on my Comanche, a few months ago, in flight, and I lost 35 liters from one auxiliary tank, without noticing it.
This once again emphasised how critical it is to peek into the tanks before takeoff. Had I not, we would have run out of fuel on our return flight from the Kalahari.

[Still_Learning]

Very responsible person assured pilot repeatedly before flight that the tanks were filled up. The preflight was rushed, no excuse there.

There's only 1 responsible person you can trust - yourself... And in this case he wasn't responsible

[Vogoff]

Does the Baron have the same issue as the Seneca II/III? The filler cap of the Seneca is towards the wingtip and because of the dihedral you can still have a lot of fuel even with a dipstick reading zero. According to one report[1] you can't get an accurate fuel level when dipping tanks with less than 75% fuel remaining.

So you have to trust the fuel gauges, even though their reliability is questionable.

I believe the standard solution is to fill the tanks as often as possible. But if you are away from home without options for fuel and someone drains your tanks then it might be hard to detect.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 026656.pdf

[Whirly]

Has the supply of Avgas resumed at Bethlehem yet?

Whirly.

[ddevos]

Has the supply of Avgas resumed at Bethlehem yet?

Whirly.

Yes, see viewtopic.php?t=268210 ...

[Whirly]

Has the supply of Avgas resumed at Bethlehem yet?

Whirly.

Yes, see viewtopic.php?t=268210 ...

" we are in the process of getting it going again", makes me think "not yet". From a private supplyer, yes, if you know about him though.

Whirly.

[flypiper]

Hi Aviators,

The pilot explained in detail, so lets dont nock him it can happen to anybody once.