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Athol, Idaho, man crashes plane after attempted landing

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Athol, Idaho, man crashes plane after attempted landing in Northern Idaho near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (www.idahostatesman.com) More...

Loren Wood
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jdriskell
James Driskell 6
Gas, go! No gas, no go! Duh!
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benningt
Jeremy Bennington 5
Crashed or off airport landing? He landed on a road and walked to a house. How much damage?

Running out of fuel....amazingly common.
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richardorgill
Richard Orgill 6
Agreed with the common but I call it amazingly stupid.

Reminds me a twin-engine gent a few years back who decided to push it to his house since he claimed he wanted to save money on the price of fuel....he flew over 7 airports trying to reach his home base...crashed killing his grandson, his son is now in a wheelchair...all for the cost of a few dollars more.
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benningt
Jeremy Bennington 3
Get-there-itis. It's a very real thing and kills several people a year. A link in a chain of events to lead to this? Time pressures: weather, airport closures, TFRs, meeting time, etc. Along with lack of rest, not wanting to add 30-45 minutes to a flight, not wanting to land and have to refile IFR (if flying IFR), etc.

The times that I've pushed it (but never violated my personal or FAA reserve requirements) have almost always been a combination of a long flight & weather. You're dodging storms, trying to get somewhere after one system moves through, but before another hits, and you don't want to stop because it means waiting hours/days until the second system moves through. Experience says plan for that....so you don't run out of fuel.
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Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 1
I remember many years ago a Dr. did the same thing flying a King Air to Austin, Texas! ATC asked him several times about fuel and he almost made it to within a mile of the runway!
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ADXbear
ADXbear 4
Glad he is ok,but no excuse for running out of fuel.. too many steps to verify quantity before and during flight...

Stop and get gas...
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Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 9
It's nothing but bad pilotage. It takes 'math' to figure out how much 'gas' you need. In ground school, the instructor addressed this topic. One 'smart ass' said the answer was to just always fully fuel the plane, which the instructor laughed at. Sure, you 'pay' for everything that is in that plane. Flying for 20 minutes with a full plane? Why? Why pay for that fuel you won't use? Why run the risk of condensation contamination? Why affect your climb out performance on a hot day fully loaded. Why risk potentially causing issues in high altitude airports. Plus limit passengers and luggage, all because you can't take the time to figure out where you are going, how much fuel you plan to use, and if you have problems getting in to the intended destination, figure out alternates and the fuel to reach those if you are on a downwind there and have to divert.

Math is hard. So is the ground.
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jimquinndallas
Jim Quinn 11
Love the last line...
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Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 2
Yeah, that's funny. I was thinking about the pool I use for scuba refreshers. One day I saw bubbles coming out of the water. Someone asked if the pool had a leak. The instructor explained that the bubbles break the surface tension for divers. If the bubbler wasn't running, the divers would experience a shock like they were diving into concrete. Wow! (That's why so many people were so surprised at the 'crash in the Hudson'. So many were so shocked anyone survived. Idiots can't understand why people were upset that 'Sully' did what he did. It was a 'hail Mary', and spared people in the city. A desperation move. (Yada yada yada)

One thing I love is from the Great Douglas Adams: Flying is easy, you throw yourself at the ground and miss!

Well, yeah, but for an overworked and brain numb college student, I laughed my ass off for months, and still can giggle thinking about that. Too funny. My ground school instructor mentioned that too. We hit it off fine...

Throw yourself at the ground, and miss. HAH HAH HAH!!!
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Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 1
Oh, and thanks for the comment. It fit. Cheers...
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Kensterfly
Ken Thompson 8
All makes sense except for the condensation part. You’re much more likely to get water in the tank from condensation with half full tanks than you are with topped off tanks.
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KicksOnRoute66
Roger Anderson 3
I feel like there have been so many GA crashes lately
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Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 2
More people are relying on GA to get themselves around, I'm sure. If I had a plane, I'd probably be flying a lot more, if nothing else, to just get away from the mess at home, but everywhere you go, it's the same thing. Its sad times. Who knew we would be living a sci-fi movie plot this year.
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ewrcap
ewrcap 1
There haven’t. Every little crash makes the news. “Oooh, an airplane crash!” Meanwhile, 500 people died in car crashes the same day. Airplane crash makes the front page. Car crash is on page 21.
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PSUAth
Supercool Marmol 2
if you you are so strapped for cash that you can't spend a few extra dollars on fuel, you probably shouldn't be invested in flying.
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ewrcap
ewrcap 2
I see a lot of references to “little airplane” pilots but it has happened at the big airlines too. Avianca 52 at JFK, United 173 in Portland, Air Transat 236 at Lajes and LaMia 2933 at Medellin and Hapag Lloyd 3378 at Vienna. Air Transat and Hapag Lloyd made impeccable deadstick landings. The other flights were not so lucky. All of these mistakes were just as egregious as the guy in the 182. It’s a bit like a car that races to beat the train. Professional drivers have done it and lost the race. There are more cases of amateurs but there a many more amateurs.
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that1guyover
Steve Peranteau 1
Air Canada 143, the Gimli Glider
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jimquinndallas
Jim Quinn 2
A few decades ago one of my coworkers flew past a number of airports with avgas to get to Addison from southern Mississippi, thinking he had enough fuel to reach his home base at ADS. He told me he knew it would be close. He landed at Addison with dry tanks, however not as you might expect. His aircraft was straddling the north boundary fence, just yards from the runway. Close but not close enough. If memory serves me, he had his family on board and there were no injuries. I lived across the street from the airport and happened to drive by as he was walking around the aircraft before the emergency vehicles arrived. He was quite embarrassed and quite lucky.
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trbpearson
William Pearson 2
Man, what an Athol! (Idaho joke)
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cparks
cparks 1
Dat last sentence tho...
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SpaceRanger
Michael McMurtrey 1
If at first you don't succeed, crash, crash again.
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PSUAth
Supercool Marmol 1
Take-offs are optional. Landings are mandatory.
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Quirkyfrog
Robert Cowling 1
Oh, and thanks for the comment. It fit.
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phowry
Phil Howry 1
The three most useless things to a pilot; 1) runway behind you, 2) altitude above you and 3) fuel in the fuel truck.
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steerts
Ron Streetenberger 1
An Athol pilot indeed. Excuse my lisp.
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ewrcap
ewrcap 2
No worrieth!
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flyby83
Jeremy Slaymaker 1
What lithp? Lol!
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gowenfast
david j price 1
The ONLY time you have too much fuel, is when you are on fire.
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themold
themold 1
Excess air in the tanks!
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flyer338
Brian Newman 1
Every time somebody does something like this the supply of small airplanes just got smaller. It is difficult to say, but likely that plane will never fly again, and as a result the number of pilots also gets smaller. Not that the Athol pilot would be missed.
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RDLoven
Richard Loven 1
Too much fuel never hurt anything.
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PDLanum
Philip Lanum 1
Gallons or Liters?
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Mmeyers7167
Michael Meyers 1
Yet another fuel exhaustion crash. Any idiot can get a pilots license.
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MKanzler
Mark Kanzler 1
Everyone is quick to judge... but what if a fuel hose started to leak during the flight?

Everyone knows what to do when they aren't the ones in the situation, but sometimes things aren't as they seem.

Landing dead stick on a road is not easy.
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