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off with fuel. When I arrived at the FBO and signed the fuel slip, I was horrified. Doing some quick math, I realized that I had landed with about 3 gallons of gas left in each main tank. A missed approach would have resulted in the death of myself, my wife, and possibly others on the ground. It was a very sobering experience.
What I Learned
• Theonlytimeyoucanhavetoomuchfueliswhenyou are on fire. Always carry as much fuel as weight and balance will allow.
• You can be legal and still run out of fuel. With the data linked weather available today, this would not have happened. Use all available resources.
• Always plan an alternate and never hesitate to divert.
• You must avoid getting sucked into trying to complete the mission. I wanted to sleep in my own bed that night, and both my wife and I had to be at work the next day. “Get-home-itis” is a very strong motivator for making
poor decisions.
• Neverhesitatetodeclareanemergency.Doingsosaved
my life by allowing priority handling to an approach that was not in use that night. Had I been given vectors for the 27 ILS, I would not be writing this story.
Episode #2 – A Rookie With a Problem and No Plan
It was 1979 and I was just handed my temporary IFR certificate. Anxious to put it to use, I planned a trip the following weekend from Columbus, Ohio (KCMH) to Boyne Mountain, Michigan (KBFA) via the Litchfield VOR to avoid the Detroit TCA. There would be three of us on board for the day ski trip. The aircraft was a brand-new single-engine Rockwell Commander 114, complete with a cassette tape player (which soon played a part in this story). The weather that day was for widespread IFR with ceilings of 800 to 1,000 feet, well within my newfound capabilities. Or so I thought.
We loaded up the airplane early in the morning with just enough fuel for my alternate of Traverse City (KTVC). Everyone was excited about the idea of hopping in a pri- vate airplane for a day of skiing. We soon departed into the gloom of an 800-foot overcast, but within 20 minutes, we were on top of the clouds at our cruising altitude of 6,000 feet with an absolute clear, bright, sunny day above the undercast. My friends were suitably impressed – though that was not to last.
Somewhere around the Litchfield VOR, the alternator field wire loosened and disconnected, leaving only battery power. A small yellow light on the far right of the instru- ment panel indicating loss of the alternator dutifully lit up, completely unnoticed by me, the pilot. I was engrossed in conversation with my passengers and listening to music on the cassette player. How cool, indeed. Soon enough the music output began to slur – my first indication that some- thing was amiss. Of course, my initial reaction was that something was wrong with the tape player or the cassette itself, not uncommon in those days. After switching tapes
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June 2022 / TWIN & TURBINE • 5