Pilot lesson No. 1: Check gas before taking off

The Denver Post from THE GAZETTE ^ | 05/29/2009 | MARIA ST.LOUIS-SANCHEZ

[george76]

A retired Air Force colonel with decades of experience as a flight instructor gave one of his students a hands-on lesson in a key principle of flying: Don't run out of gas. Al Uhalt of Colorado Springs made a bumpy but safe landing in a field Thursday when the single-engine Aviat Husky he and a student were flying ran out of fuel near the end of a 45-minute lesson.

Neither Uhalt nor the student, 16-year-old Kyle Sundman, was injured and the plane was undamaged.

[AntiKev]

Nothing is more useless to a pilot than air in the fuel tanks, runway behind you or a half a second ago.

Said another way, don’t run out of airspeed, altitude and ideas all at the same time. If you have airspeed, you can gain altitude, if you have altitude you have time to get ideas and energy to get airspeed.

[Paul46360]

As an AF veteran and Civil Air Patrol Member..this is not good.

[ScottinVA]

“Al Uhalt”

I’ll be danged. I knew him when I was assigned to Peterson AFB in 1981-84. I bet he’s one embarrassed instructor. Al — “Attention to Detail!”

[george76]

Uhalt and his 16-year-old flight student Kyle Sundman were up for a 45-minute lesson in an Aviat Husky single-engine plane. About 10 a.m. they were cleared to land at the Colorado Springs Airport when the engine started sputtering.

Uhalt took a look at the gas gauge and knew exactly what was wrong. Luckily, they were approaching the Fountain Valley School, which sits on 1,100-acres, about 90 percent of which are open fields.

http://www.gazette.com/news/landing-55183-aircraft-school.html

[ScottinVA]

Now, THAT was a memorable flight for that student, I’m sure!

[george76]

the retired Air Force colonel commanded the 46th Aerospace Defense Wing at Peterson Air Force Base

[Niteranger68]

Is this the John Denver rule?

[ScottinVA]

Yeah, I think he was the last one before the 46th ADW was dissolved in 1983.

[shotdog]

Gravity. Not just a good idea. It’s the law.

[RexBeach]

I always thought that aviation fuel was really important to flying. I guess it still is.

[george76]

[Vaquero]

BIDEN: But it also needs a special brand of strategic thinking that are gained only in the thin air of Colorado Springs. And the windy air of Colorado Springs. What am I going to tell the president when I tell him his teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?

[savedbygrace]

The guy’s name is Uhalt? For real? Too much fun.

[darkwing104]

#1 Did the Col get a Maintainer’s permission to use his airplane?

#2 Did he follow his checklist?

Air Force humor...

[SkyDancer]

He should be grounded for 91 days ... make him take his CFI certification all over again ....

[HerrBlucher]

I wonder if he let the kid do the preflight check.

[ArrogantBustard]

The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.

[ClearCase_guy]

Uhalt took a look at the gas gauge and knew exactly what was wrong.

Well, they did say he has decades of experience, so I bet one glance was all it took.

[ml/nj]

I guess things must be VERY different from when I was a student. Every flight included a pre-flight inspection of the airplane. These ALWAYS included a visual inspection of the fuel in each tank (I always had two tanks. No center-fuel-tank for me!) for level and purity (from water contamination). When I was new, and when I had new instructors, the instructor ALWAYS watched me perform the pre-flight inspection of the aircraft. I suppose I could have just pretended to judge the fuel levels, but I'm no longer sure that as I met the new instructors (I've probably had five or six.) they didn't check after I did. Flying is pretty safe, if you're not an idiot.

ML/NJ