"Greg Farris" wrote in message
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It involves a flying club and an ATP rated pilot - in fact, a 767
Captain for a major. He took out a new C-182S on a personal trip, and
returned "uneventfully" under IFR, in IMC at night, with two passengers.
When the plane was refueled in the morning, it took 90GAL of 100LL -
useable fuel for that model is 88GAL, with total 92GAL. It is quite
possible that a missed approach that night would have resulted in three
fatalities.

Has anyone actually looked why he landed with so little fuel on board? Does
the expected fuel consumption based on the recorded flight hours match the
apparent fuel consumption? If not, can you determine why not? Was it a
leaning error? Or some sort of fault with the airplane? Is it possible
that overnight someone actually removed the fuel from the airplane? Even in
the friendly environment of an airport, theft is not unheard of and fuel
prices have been very high for some time now.

If the fuel consumption is consistent with the flight hours, was the pilot
at least aware that he landed with so little fuel? It seems to me that a
pilot who admits (or claims) to not knowing how much fuel was on board at
the end of the flight needs *at a minimum* some sort of remedial training
and oversight. This would include some probation period during which
someone is monitoring his flights and ensuring that he not only knows how
much fuel he has left at the end of a flight, but that that amount of fuel
is consistent with safe operation.

You say the pilot was "nonchalant", but that doesn't really tell us what his
reaction was. Does that mean that he acknowledged landing with practically
zero fuel, but wasn't concerned? Or does it mean that the person
confronting him got a reaction other than the one they expected and/or would
have been satisfied with. If that person was not considering the issue from
all possibilities, it's entirely possible they misinterpreted the pilot's
reaction, and you haven't given us enough details to know one possible
scenario from another.

I do feel that if it can be established without a doubt that the pilot
knowingly landed with so little fuel, that there is cause for concern. If
he did so in a way that was predictable, and could have been avoided with
proper preflight planning, that is cause for even more concern. Career or
no career, he cannot be allowed to continue to fly with that attitude
(assuming he has "that attitude", of course). Either the attitude needs to
change, or the flying needs to stop.

Pete