Running On That Last Gallon of Fuel

[Bill Greenwood]

Author Richard Collins, ( I think) wrote there were 2 dumb things no pilot should ever do, run out of fuel or fly into dangerous weather, and of course doing both together is double nuts.
Another idea is that an accident it often a chain of events that lead to it. I came within a couple of gallons of running out and there were half dozen or more factors.

First, I had been flying my '77 Mooney 201 and you fill it up with 64 gal and its burns 10 in cruise so fuel is really not a consideration, you get spoiled. When I switched to my "55 Beech T-34 everything about fuel became tighter. It holds only 50 gal, burns about 13 leaned out in cruise and at 140k is 10 -15knots slower than the Mooney. The endurance is bout half the Mooney. Next, I fill up the tanks after I fly and I did so this time, but I was taking the plane to Front Range Airport for its annual. Over the time of the annual they ran it on the ground a bit and so when I went to fly it was not quite full, maybe 46 gal and I didn't top it to the brim. This was a new shop and proved to be very negative and antagonistic about the plane so I picked it up to take to Parks in Texas. I was planning on stopping at Tom Danaher's private strip near Denton. Tom was a long time CAF member and had the last victory in WWII flying a Corsair. So I set out and would normally fly 13,500 leaned out to 13 gph. An overcast made me fly lower, under 10,000 and gs was less and fuel burn may have been higher. It was a new route and I was looking at the map and as I neared OK City I was talking to military approach control, got preoccupied with them and traffic and not focused on fuel. One gauge was not quite accurate, then I ran an tank dry and it quit. I had a freeway ahead and the airport coming up so I glided down and landed, and switched tanks as I made the approach. The engine was running in order to taxi in but not much on the gauges. I refueled and found I had only a few gallons in one tank and the other empty. It made a big impression on me.
I'm like the pilot who says when he taxis in he wants to hear that reserve fuel sloshing in the tanks!