More on Fuel Management - and an Ethical Dilemma

"Greg Farris" wrote in message
...
[...]
Fuel was not stolen form the plane - it did not overnight anywhere - he
flew
it out and back.

How do you know that fuel was not stolen from the airplane? Just because
the airplane spent the night at your club rather than elsewhere, that
doesn't prove there was no theft. If the airplane is hangared, theft is
much less likely, but again not proveably impossible (especially since the
theft could be an "inside job", as they say).

I don't know if it was full when he departed, or what
measures he took to satisfy himself with the adequacy of his fuel on
board. I
mentioned the AOPA article about the late model Cessnas though because of
the
fuel management system and low fuel warnings they have built into these
planes. The thing must have been blaring at him for a good half an hour on
his
return flight!

Again, did he actually admit to landing with low fuel? Has anyone talked to
the passengers to see if they noted a low fuel warning?

It's one thing if he's actually admitted the transgression and seems
unapologetic about it. But it's another entirely if there is an allegation
that has been so far unproven. Certainly the pilot should be given the
benefit of the doubt unless it can be established without question that he
arrived with practically empty tanks.

As I've mentioned, so far you haven't communicated to this newsgroup any
incontrovertible reason to believe that the pilot did in fact do what you
are suggesting he did. Your post takes as a foregone conclusion that he did
(or at least appears to), but the written record here doesn't demonstrate
that conclusion.

As you've guessed, I was of the opinion that no good would come of making
an
incident that would damage his career - at the same time, I have to
admit
that I would not want to fly with him, in any type of aircraft or any
mission
profile. I'm a bit stunned by the disregard he showed for the lives of his
two
passengers that night.

You keep writing things that make it seems as though you are certain he did
what you say he did. But what evidence do you have that he did? Did he
actually admit to doing so? Did the passengers verify the theory that he
did? Did someone check the fuel level immediately after his landing? I'm
talking about *proof*, not circumstantial evidence.

He may very well have done exactly what you say he did, even if there is not
proof of it. But it does the aviation community no good at all to make
unproven accusations, and especially to act on them. That's exactly the
kind of behavior we find so abhorrent from the TSA and the rest of our
government; it would be hypocritical to act that way at all, never mind to
our own.

Pete