More on Fuel Management - and an Ethical Dilemma

Greg Farris wrote:

In the June AOPA Pilot "State of General Aviation" issue, Bruce
Landsberg gives a gold star to Cessna, for their new production singles,
which, according to the article, have not suffered a single fuel
mismanagement accident. Well, I know of one near-miss, which could have
broken that record, and presents an ethical dilemma as well.

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.

I have to wonder if, as an airline captain, he's used to having the
dispatch department or whoever deal with fuel, so he just doesn't think
about it. Even in his position that seems like a bad attitude, since
the airlines are into this "smart fueling" deal where they try to load
just the right amount of fuel so if he has to hold or divert he'd have
to calculate. But that's just a thought.

When confronted discreetly about it, the pilot was nonchalant. He has
a career ahead of him, and a family, with two young children. Because of
his poor judgment, and even more because of his flippant attitude, some
people who know about this want to make a full-blown incident out of it.
Others feel it would damage or destroy his career - and we "hope" he has
learned his lesson.

When something similar (but not that extreme) happened in my flying
club, the offending pilot's flying privileges were revoked until he took
remedial training in fuel planning with a club instructor.