Off-Field landing

"John Theune" wrote in message news:q6txf.10798

..... Also the flight departed around 1300 and ended at 1720 which is 4:20
by my math. ( I know you did not supply the 5:20 number )

The report specified that the flight ended at 1720 PST, which was local
time, so I am presuming that when they referenced the take off time as 1300
they used local time for that also. The departure point was ABQ, which is
in MST. If that's the case, he would have been in the air for 5:20.

At least in most Mooneys 550nm is a pretty short trip. I can easily
make Albuquerque from Sacramento in my Mooney and that is over 800 nm.

-Robert

So he flight planned a trip of some 550 nm without a fuel stop. I don't
know diddly about Mooneys, but iirc, 550 nm is pushing it pretty hard in
most singles, yes?

Trainers, yes. IFR cruisers, no. A Mooney is generally good for a
little over 5 hours endurance at 75% power, and you can expect to make
140-150 kts. If you pull it back to 60-65% and lean it, you can get 6+
hours at 130+ kts. 550 nm is easily doable unless the headwinds are
vicious.

He said he had 49 gallons leaving ABQ, and flew about
5:20. 9.2 gph. Is that about right for a Mooney?

Depends what power setting he was running. Many people run their
Mooneys around 8 gph for endurance. That would make sense given the
length of the trip, since making an extra fuel stop would erase any
time savings from going faster.

Before we jump all over this guy and make snide comments about too much
air in the tanks, I seem to recall not too long ago we had a pilot run
out of gas - only it turned out later than when his carburetor was
rebuilt, most of the parts used were for the wrong model or out of
tolerance, and the fuel leaked away. The NTSB still called it pilot
error.

Michael

Michael wrote:

The NTSB still called it pilot error.

And they're right. Coming back from Oshkosh last time, my left fuel gauge stayed
on full. I did not assume that something was wrong with the gauge and that I had
plenty of gas.

Turned out that some little insect had plugged the vents at my last fuel stop
and it was pulling from the right tank only, even when the left tank was selected.

When the gauges get close to empty, land. Especially if they shouldn't be
getting close to empty.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

"Michael" wrote

Before we jump all over this guy and make snide comments about too much
air in the tanks, I seem to recall not too long ago we had a pilot run
out of gas - only it turned out later than when his carburetor was
rebuilt, most of the parts used were for the wrong model or out of
tolerance, and the fuel leaked away. The NTSB still called it pilot
error.

True. The facts are not in, yet. We can wait to jump on him, until then.
g

It does make you wonder if he had fuel gauges that worked. Seeing them both
down almost down at the empty line would have made me want to stop, before
all the reserve was used up, right?
--
Jim in NC