Impending Fuel Exhaustion Compelled Him To "Land While I Was Still In Control"

There is a pretty darned good reason that Sean Tucker is one of the nation's most revered and respected airshow pilots -- and anyone who has seen him fly knows exactly why... the man is one of the best pilots in the biz... period. So... imagine being a motorist this past weekend, on California's Highway 101 and seeing a familiar deep red biplane pulled over to the side of the road, with CHP officers keeping an eye on things.

Yup, that's just Sean Tucker gathering a crowd... as usual.

It's an interesting story and while a few other so-called news organizations have jumped the gun tried to report on the matter, ANN made sure to get all the details available before running a story that has an impact not only on Tucker but on how the industry is perceived worldwide. Just telling folks "He ran out of gas" obviously doesn't tell the whole story -- and in this case, it was quite incorrect.

At any rate, you're welcome to hear the entire story, in Sean's own words, today, on our Exclusive Feature Aero-Cast. Sean calls this a non-event, no matter how much its being played up elsewhere, and after hearing the story, we quite agree... which doesn't mean that it doesn't make for a great excuse to chat with Sean about what occured and the thought processes he brought to the situation.

Sean was on a photo flight this past Sunday when he got the first inkling that the flight might not end as planned. After about 48 minutes into the flight, while flying in a diamond formation with three other aerobats, he got a fuel pressure warning and an engine burp... He was just South of the airport and figured that one of two things was happening. Either he was running out of fuel or his (engine driven) fuel pump was failing. He turned on the electric fuel pump, noted pressure coming back up but then got another "burp" shortly thereafter and realized that he had a fuel situation.

Sean told ANN's Jim Campbell, "I said OK... I'm not going to try to make it to the airport, I 'm going to a precautionary landing and I had to make a decision right away."

He cleared two of the other pilots to head back to the airport whole another flew "cover" and checked for power lines while Sean found a four mile stretch of Highway 101 without traffic (remember, this is Sunday afternoon), and landed -- a little surprised at how narrow the highway actually was as he actually touched down where it was only two lanes wide.

CHP showed up quickly, and came to his aid as he had rolled off to the side of the highway to avoid getting in the way of moving traffic, and subsequently did ascertain that he was very low on fuel. Fuel was brought over from the airport and in surprisingly short order, CHP blocked off the highway in just a few minutes and Sean completed the few miles back to the airport... to thereupon try and find out why he was so low on fuel when he plainly believed he shouldn't have been.

Back in his shop, the cause was quickly pinned down. Sean is just getting the 2009 Airshow season off to a start and in the process of preparing for this year, a new fuel tank with an internal header system was installed. He explains that, "I have a clear plastic sight gauge that sits outside of the tank so that I can monitor how many gallons I put in... that tank holds 34.7 gallons, though for my airshow I usually put in 12 gallons... and I follow the fuel through this clear plastic sight gauge to where it runs out of sight, you have full fuel. Well, evidently, there was some sort of air bubble in there and it gave me a false indication that I had a full tank of gas."

Sean told ANN that he probably could have made it to the airport with the fuel remaining but maintaining control over the proceedings was more important than risking the last dash to the airport, especially since the area was not all that hospitable, landing wise... and that once he made the decision, he stuck with it. Sean describes the thought process in a matter-of-fact manner, "Could I have made it to King City (Airport)? Maybe... but maybes aren't good enough for me, Jim. I made the decision because I was under power, because I was under control, to go ahead and land it (on Hwy 101).

Sean readily admits that he learned "a couple of lessons out of this." The first is to confirm fuel with a look inside the tank every time no matter how seemingly fool-proof the external fuel tubing gauge should have been. The other lesson is to use a clearer fuel tubing to make things more visible to see than they had been that late in the day (though he also uses an electronic totalizer that had been calibrated against the physical amount he thought the tubing indicated).

Sean also added, "When you make a decision, don't second guess yourself, just do it. Live by it and go... in an emergency time doesn't stop -- go with it..."

Still, he admits that, "Luck comes to the one who is most prepared."

In the meantime, Sean is heading is out to perform at yet another airshow this coming weekend and feels "so happy with my flying this year... I'm just having a blast... I feel so blessed."

** Report created 5/5/2009 Record 16 **
IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 260SP Make/Model: EXP Description: PITTS S-2S
 Date: 05/04/2009 Time: 0222
 Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
 Damage: None
LOCATION
 City: KING CITY State: CA Country: US

DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT FORCE LANDED ON A HIGHWAY, NEAR KING CITY, CA

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
 # Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
 # Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
 # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
 Activity: Unknown Phase: Landing Operation: OTHER
 FAA FSDO: SAN JOSE, CA (WP15) Entry date: 05/04/2009

FMI: www.poweraerobatics.com