An AP story out of Des Moines, Iowa, takes a look at the problem of pilots crashing because they run out of fuel. The story notes that National Transportation Safety Board officials are baffled by the frequency with which pilots run out of gas. In the past five years, according to the NTSB, fuel exhaustion was the cause or a factor in 238 small plane crashes in the U.S., killing 29 people.
The story quotes Tom Haueter, director of the NTSB’s Office of Aviation Safety:
“It’s surprising to me that there’s a group of pilots who will knowingly push it, thinking ‘I can make it the last couple of miles’ and come up short.”
Read the full story here
