Don’t Blame your Fuel Gauge

"According to the Joseph T. Nall report (produced by AOPA’s Air Safety Institute), 89 accidents occurred in 2010 as a result of fuel exhaustion; 11 of them fatal. And despite a decline in fuel management accidents through 2008, more recently those numbers have been reversing, accounting for eight percent of all accidents in 2010.
According to the Nall report, inadequate flight planning — failure to determine the amount of fuel required for the flight or the amount actually on board, or to verify the rate of fuel consumption en route — accounted for the largest share (48 percent)."

This was reported below in the FAA Safety Team Briefing in October 2013 and is indented in italics:

FAASafety

Briefing - Fuel Monitoring 

October 2013

The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee

Safety Enhancement Topic of the Month

Don’t Be “Fuel-ish”

While fuel exhaustion continues to be a a top ten issue for General Aviation safety - It gets very little insight or a real root cause analysis to the factors involved.  To most in the aviation field this is a simple pilot problem with a very simple answer, But there is a hidden truth lying in the commonly held belief below:  

"One of the more head-scratching aspects of fuel management accidents is simply how easy they are to prevent, as well as recognize well before they happen.Blaming a bad fuel gauge doesn’t cut it. To help prevent getting into this situation, here are some tips:"

Note:  A fuel gauge is required equipment on all powered GA aircraft and it is supposed to be accurate throughout the range from empty to the zero fuel level.  

The FAA Safety Team implies in the paragraph above that you could be flying your aircraft with a bad fuel gauge - I hope this isn't so.

§91.7   Civil aircraft airworthiness.
(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in an airworthy condition.
(b) The pilot in command of a civil aircraft is responsible for determining whether that aircraft is in condition for safe flight.  The pilot in command shall discontinue the flight when unairworthy mechanical, electrical, or structural conditions occur.

§23.1305   Powerplant instruments.
The following are required powerplant instruments:
(a) For all airplanes. (1) A fuel quantity indicator for each fuel tank, installed in accordance with §23.1337(b).

§23.1301 (Systems and Equipment) Function and installation.
Each item of installed equipment must—(a) Be of a kind and design appropriate to its intended function.(b) Be labeled as to its identification,function, or operating limitations, orany applicable combination of these factors;(c) Be installed according to limitations specified for that equipment; and (d) Function properly when installed.

§23.1337   Powerplant instruments installation.
(b) Fuel quantity indication. There must be a means to indicate to the flightcrew members the quantity of usable fuel in each tank during flight. An indicator calibrated in appropriate units and clearly marked to indicate those units must be used. In addition:
(1) Each fuel quantity indicator must be calibrated to read “zero” during level flight when the quantity of fuel remaining in the tank is equal to the unusable fuel supply determined under §23.959(a)

And this is where the hidden truth lies,  and this is where I believe the  FAA Safety Team author missed the point - It is a subtle but significant difference and it should read as follows:

Flying an aircraft with a bad fuel gauge doesn't cut it 

If we review  -  I believe the accident chain starts at this point.

• After visually checking the fuel in the aircraft,  the pilot then got into the aircraft   put power onto the aircraft and observed that the fuel gauges did not report accurately how much fuel was in the tank.  

Or 

• The pilot observed on filling the aircraft that the gauges indicated the aircraft had more or less fuel than that required to fill to tabs as an example.

STOP RIGHT THERE - Take your aircraft to the nearest service center and have your required aircraft equipment repaired or replaced to make your aircraft airworthy.  

Don't fly an aircraft with bad fuel gauges - it is that simple.

If you are flying an aircraft with bad fuel gauges - you should have a ferry permit.     

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When you look at it from this perspective - yes the solution to fuel exhaustion may be just as easy as the brief author suggests.  

Simply mandate that required fuel level reporting equipment function properly when installed on the aircraft.  

I understand fuel level reporting is not good in GA - That they don't work is the universal complaint.  

If that is true, then this problem lies with the FAA Administrator -

1.) Did the FAA Administrator allow an Aircraft Type Certificate to be issued that ignored fuel level reporting requirements of FAR 23.1301, FAR 23.1305 and FAR 23.1337.

2.) Does the FAA enforce the requirement that this equipment is to function     throughout the life of the aircraft as designed above.

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Why have we turned a blind eye to fuel level equipment & why are fuel reporting systems treated in a different manner than any other required equipment on the aircraft. 

Because if we re-write the FAA Safety Brief and replace fuel level with another piece of required equipment ..... Frankly, it just sounds silly.   

"One of the more head-scratching aspects of airspeed management accidents is simply how easy they are to prevent, as well as recognize well before they happen.Blaming a bad airspeed indicator doesn’t cut it. To help prevent getting into this situation, here are some tips:"

Required equipment is required for a reason - let's make it that way.