In an internal combustion engine, fuel starvation is the failure of the fuel system to supply sufficient fuel to allow the engine to run properly, for example due to blockage, vapor lock, contamination by water, malfunction of the fuel pump or incorrect operation, leading to loss of power or engine stoppage.[1] There is still fuel in the tank(s), but it is unable to get to the engine(s) in sufficient quantity. By contrast, fuel exhaustion (also called fuel depletion) is an occurrence in which the vehicle in question becomes completely devoid of usable fuel, with results similar to those of fuel starvation.[2]

British Airways Flight 38 crash-landed at London Heathrow in 2008 after its fuel lines became clogged with ice crystals.

All engine-powered modes of transport can be affected by fuel starvation, although the problem is most serious for aircraft in flight. Ships are affected to the extent that without propulsion they cannot maneuver to avoid collisions or beaching. On aircraft, fuel starvation is often the result of incorrect fuel management, for example by selecting to feed the engine from an empty tank while fuel is present in another one.[3]

Fuel exhaustion and starvation incidents on aircraft edit

Many incidents have happened on aircraft where fuel exhaustion or starvation played a role. A partial list of these incidents follows:

1950s and 1960s edit

1970s and 1980s edit

1990s and 2000s edit

  • On 25 January 1990, Avianca Flight 052 was in an extended holding pattern over John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City due to fog and congested traffic. The Boeing 707-320B was delayed many times before it was given clearance to land, using up almost all of their fuel. On their attempt to land, wind shear, combined with bad visibility caused them to miss the runway and execute a missed approach. However, before Flight 052 could execute another landing attempt, they ran out of fuel and crashed into Cove Neck, New York, killing 73 of 158.[21]
  • A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet of the Royal Australian Air Force, serial number A21-41, was lost on 5 June 1991 after the pilot became incapacitated. The aircraft flew until it ran out of fuel and crashed in a remote part of Queensland. The wreckage was not found until more than three years later.[22][23]
  • The crew of Indian Airlines Flight 440, an Airbus A300B2-101, executed a missed approach procedure at Hyderabad-Begumpet Airport on 15 November 1993 due to poor visibility. During the missed approach a problem developed when the flaps would not retract fully. After some time trying to solve the flap problem and find somewhere to land near Hyderabad, the crew diverted the aircraft to Madras but because they had to fly slower due to the extended flaps the aircraft ran out of fuel. It landed in a paddy field near Tirupati; there were no fatalities among the 262 occupants but the aircraft was written off.[24]
  • On 23 November 1996, three men hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 on a short flight segment from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. The hijackers demanded that the aircraft should be flown to Australia despite the pilot telling them that there was insufficient fuel to do so. After three hours of flying along the African coast and across part of the Indian Ocean, the aircraft ran out of fuel and the engines failed. An emergency landing at Grande Comore Island failed when the aircraft landed on the water just off the local beach, killing 125 people including the three hijackers.[25]
  • On 25 October 1999, a Learjet 35 ran out of fuel and crashed in a field near Aberdeen, South Dakota. All 4 passengers (including golfer Payne Stewart) and the two crew members died. The crash was a result of the incapacitation of the crew due to hypoxia, caused by a loss of air pressure in the aircraft. Having departed from Orlando, Florida, on a routine flight that should have crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Dallas, Texas, the aircraft flew unmanned for over 1,500 miles before finally running out of fuel.
  • On 12 July 2000, Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378 had a landing gear problem when it failed to fully retract after takeoff. The pilots decided to continue to Munich but did not realise that their lower speed for much the same hourly fuel consumption (required because the landing gear was not up) meant that they had insufficient fuel to do so. Once the aircraft lost all fuel, the crew attempted an emergency landing at Vienna International Airport but the aircraft landed short of the runway. There were no fatalities.[26]
  • On 24 August 2001, Air Transat Flight 236 suffered a fuel leak while crossing the Atlantic Ocean and lost its fuel. The aircraft glided safely to an air base in the Azores.[27]
  • TAM Airlines Flight 3804, a Fokker 100, suffered fuel exhaustion on 30 August 2002 because of a leak. The aircraft made an emergency landing in a field with its gear up, killing a cow grazing in the field. No one on board the aircraft was killed.[28]
  • On 13 August 2004, a Convair CV-580 freighter operating as Air Tahoma Flight 185 suffered fuel starvation due to crew mismanagement of the fuel tank system and crashed, killing one of the pilots.[29]
  • On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153, an ATR 72 en route from Bari, Italy, to Djerba, Tunisia, ditched into the Mediterranean Sea about 18 miles from the city of Palermo. Sixteen of the 39 people on board died. The accident resulted from fuel exhaustion due to the installation of a fuel quantity indicator for an ATR 42 in the ATR 72; the incorrect indicator was over-reading by over 2,000 kg, leading the crew to believe they had enough fuel for the flight.[30]
  • On 14 August 2005, fighter jets intercepted Helios Airways Flight 522 after the Helios flight failed to respond to air traffic controllers in Greece. The pilots of the fighter jets reported that they observed no pilots in control of the aircraft until shortly before the aircraft ran out of fuel, when a flight attendant named Andreas Prodromou managed to reach the cockpit and attempted to control the aircraft. By the time Prodromou sat at the controls, the plane had exhausted its fuel and then crashed into a hill near Marathon, Greece, killing all on board. Fuel exhaustion was the final link in the accident chain, but as a consequence of cabin depressurization which had disabled the flight crew.[31]
  • On 26 June 2007, a Skippers Aviation Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia on a charter flight was executing a go-around at Jundee Airstrip in Western Australia. During the go-around the crew experienced difficulties in controlling the aircraft, with the aircraft descending to 50 feet above the ground and the bank angle reaching 40 degrees. After regaining control, the crew realised that the left engine had stopped. The cause of the engine stoppage was fuel starvation.
  • On 17 January 2008, ice crystals in the fuel lines of British Airways Flight 38 melted and refroze within the fuel-oil heat exchangers of the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines. The ensuing fuel starvation critically reduced engine power on short final into London Heathrow Airport, and the Boeing 777-236 landed just short of the runway. All 152 passengers and crew on board survived, but the aircraft was written off, the first hull loss recorded for the Boeing 777.[32]

2010 and later edit

Abandoned in-flight aircraft edit

A number of aircraft have been abandoned by their crew (both intentionally and sometimes accidentally) when the aircraft has continued on its own until fuel exhaustion caused it to crash:

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "fuel starvation Definition and Meaning". Dictionary Central. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Australian Aviation Accidents Involving Fuel Exhaustion and Starvation" (PDF). Australian Transport Safety Bureau: 1. December 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Fuel Starvation". Fuel for Thought. Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  4. ^ Aviation Safety Network HB-IRW page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  5. ^ Aviation Safety Network F-BGNA page Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  6. ^ Aviation Safety Network CCCP-45021 page Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  7. ^ "Royal Dutch Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) D-8045". International F-104 Society. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  8. ^ Aviation Safety Network G-ALHG page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  9. ^ "Report on the NTSB investigation of the crash of N935F" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
  10. ^ "NTSB Identification: IAD76AI021". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  11. ^ Hassell, Owen (23 April 2023). "WATCH: Wrestling icon Ric Flair recounts Wilmington plane crash on Joe Rogan podcast". Star-News. Wilmington, North Carolina. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  12. ^ "PHOTOS: Ric Flair, Wilmington and the plane crash". Star-News. Wilmington, North Carolina. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ^ Pat Adams; Jaquelyn Cooper (20 October 2017). "The Tragic Plane Crash that Happened on October 20, 1977 in Gillsburg Mississippi". TennesseeConcerts.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  14. ^ "Aircraft accident Convair CV-240 N55VM Gillsburg, MS". Aviation Safety Network. 19 June 1978. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  15. ^ Gwinn, John (22 October 1977). "Why did plane run out of fuel?". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. South Carolina. p. B1.
  16. ^ "Rock band leader, five others killed in charter plane crash". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. UPI. 21 October 1977. p. 3A.
  17. ^ Aviation Safety Network N8082U page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  18. ^ Aviation Safety Network C-GAUN page Archived 28 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  19. ^ Aviation Safety Network N551CC page Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  20. ^ Aviation Safety Network PP-VMK page Retrieved: 14 December 2007.
  21. ^ Aviation Safety Network HK-2016 page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  22. ^ Wilson, Stewart. Phantom, Hornet and Skyhawk in Australian Service. Weston Creek ACT, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd., 1993. ISBN 1-875671-03-X.
  23. ^ ADF Serials F/A-18 page Archived 18 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  24. ^ Aviation Safety Network VT-EDV page Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  25. ^ Aviation Safety Network ET-AIZ page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  26. ^ Aviation Safety Network D-AHLB page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  27. ^ Aviation Safety Network C-GITS page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  28. ^ Aviation Safety Network PT-MQH page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  29. ^ Aviation Safety Network N586P page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  30. ^ Aviation Safety Network TS-LBB page Retrieved: 12 December 2007.
  31. ^ Aviation Safety Network 5B-DBY page Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  32. ^ AAIB Bulletin S1/2008 SPECIAL Retrieved: 2 October 2012.
  33. ^ Ostrower, Jon (30 November 2016). "Colombia plane crash: Jet ran out of fuel, pilot said". CNN. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  34. ^ LaMia Flight 2933#Flight and crash Retrieved: 2 December 2016.
  35. ^ "Story of the discovery of the "Lady Be Good" and the recovery of the crew's remains". Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  36. ^ "Lady Be Good". National Museum of the United States Air Force. When the aircraft was found three of the four propellers were feathered, indicating that the three engines had been shut down by the crew prior to them abandoning the aircraft.
  37. ^ "BAe Harrier attrition list". Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  38. ^ List of live ejections from military aircraft for 1987 Archived 21 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved: 6 December 2007.
  39. ^ "The strange accident of the MiG-23".

External links edit