Page 15 - March 2016

Missionitis
The intense desire to get home even if the fuel is running low, or to finish the flight without making an inconvenient stop, or neglecting to refuel because you don’t have the correct credit card with you, has put more than one airplane down a few miles short of its intended arrival.
We can all succumb to pressure to complete a mission. Once upon a time, I nearly had to glide in with a turbocharged executive twin in the dark, because I was returning after midnight and it would have been difficult to find fuel at that hour, and because my passengers were anxious to get to bed. Whatever the reasons, once committed, I wound up staring at the seductive airport beacon light, inching closer as the gauges settled more solidly on the empty mark, mixtures leaned to the edge of roughness. The approach was straight-in, since the wind was in our face (as it always is when you’re pushing fuel) and we parked at the pumps, feeling quite full of ourselves for completing the trip. The next morning I signed a fuel receipt that showed five gallons were left in each side of the system, hardly enough for a good go-around. That’s what comes of letting a desire to complete the mission override your judgment.
Sometimes you start a mission with a barely-adequate fuel load and then everything changes, leaving you with
an unexpected marginal fuel state. In the foregoing scenario, an unplanned drop-off stop earlier in the evening had eaten up some of our fuel reserves with an extra climb back to altitude. Increasing headwinds or passengers who can’t make up their mind are simply actions that have to be dealt with; it’s your responsibility to pick the best fuel stop and eliminate the pressure to press on. If you’re coming back later than expected, take on extra fuel; refueling options become more limited in the wee hours. Remember, you’re the one acting as pilot in command and the pressure of the mission can’t be allowed to make you abdicate your responsibility.
Over-optimism
Wishing and trusting doesn’t add fuel to the tanks. A fatalistic acceptance of a situation has often led to a pilot proceeding until dry-tanks, ignoring all the signs because of his assumption that all will turn out right. I once had to take fuel out to one of my airplanes that was sitting in a wheat field, its tanks dry because the pilot kept on going with the gauges on empty, hoping the airplane would make it home.
I suppose one reaches a point at which there’s no sense in worrying, because there’s nothing more you can do. However, such acceptance should be a last-ditch condition. As long as you have flight controls and flying
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MARCH 2016
TWIN & TURBINE • 13