He almost made it.

[eas7888]

(CNN) -- A 65-year-old man flying from California to Hawaii was forced to ditch his plane in the Pacific Ocean on Friday night 13 miles off the coast of Hilo after running out of gas, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/08/us/hawaii-plane-emergency/

To be only 13 miles off the coast and have to ditch with Hawaii in sight. . .that really stinks. Glad to hear that the pilot made it out relatively unscathed, thanks to the Coast Guard.

 

[scoolbubba]

Yea, I saw this too and thought "that sucks." As always, read the comments for a good laugh from the idiots who regularly run out of gas in their cars. Damn the headwinds!

 

[yak52driver]

I've got a fair amount of C310 time flying charter, I don't think I'd feel comfortable making that flight, ever. I'm glad the pilot is okay, but that's going to be an interesting discussion with the FSDO.

 

[nittany03]

Unsat for headwork. Unsat for preflight planning. Perhaps he didn't take winds into account. Perhaps he thought he could gaff off the required reserve. The first question I would ask is why he didn't turn back before realizing he couldn't get there from here.

Proper preflight planning prevents piss poor performance.

 

[scoolbubba]

Being unfamiliar with a 310, I don't know if that is a long flight or not. I'll defer to the experts. However, Wx guessers rarely get it right over the contiguous US...they're even worse over the oceans. Maybe he was on track at his PNR and PSR, and continued, only to get bit in the ass by worse than expected headwinds after those points.

Every time I've crossed the ocean, greater than forecast headwinds have wreaked havoc on our fuel planning. That's why we have reserves.

It takes gas to carry gas, but when it's my ass, I bring more gas.

 

[eas7888]

500 miles is a pretty crappy place to realize that you're not going to make it too. . .that looks like you're damned if you do turn around, and damned if you don't. Any number of things could have caused an increase in fuel flow, or a decrease in range. That being said. . .not planning for these things can make for a bad day. He should be thankful that the CG was right there along side him when he ditched.

 

[BusyBee604]

He should be thankful that the CG was right there along side him when he ditched.

I am continually amazed by the difficult & dangerous rescues our Coasties pull off on a near daily basis. After reading many of their rescue "adventures", I don't think they are awarded near enough meaningful awards (AMs & DFCs). In my opinion, many of their rescue missions are as ...or even more hazardous than combat, and should be officially 'recognized as such! BZ once again USCG.

If I could do it all over again, I would seriously consider going Coast Guard out of Flight Training, I can only imagine how great it must feel to save even one life, let alone doing it regularly as a living.
BzB

 

[MIDNJAC]

However, Wx guessers rarely get it right over the contiguous US...they're even worse over the oceans.

Makes me think of every instrument ground school refresher I've been to here. In closing, the wx dept briefer always mentions that they appreciate pireps because they basically have no idea what is going on west of the nuc, aside from broad brush guessing

 

[Harrier Dude]

I am continually amazed by the difficult & dangerous rescues our Coasties pull off on a near daily basis. After reading many of their rescue "adventures", I don't think they are awarded near enough meaningful awards (AMs & DFCs). In my opinion, many of their rescue missions are as ...or even more hazardous than combat, and should be officially 'recognized as such! BZ once again USCG.

If I could do it all over again, I would seriously consider going Coast Guard out of Flight Training, I can only imagine how great it must feel to save even one life, let alone doing it regularly as a living.
BzB

Very true, although the actual rescue itself was probably pretty anticlimactic by their standards.

Evidently they had been flying next to him talking him through the ditching for the hour prior to him flaming out.

Their helo bubbas were on him like a duck on a junebug. He barely even got wet.

Great job, Coasties!

 

[HokiePilot]

Reminded me of this story:

During some off time in 1968 I attempted to ferry a Cessna 320 from
Oakland to Australia with the first stop in Honolulu. About 2 hours out
from Oakland I lost the right engine and had no provisions for dumping
fuel. I went down into ground effect (T effect for you purists) and for 3
hours and 21 minutes flew on one engine about 25 feet above the waves and
made it into Hamilton AFB after flying under the Golden Gate and Richmond
bridges. An old friend Nick Conte, was officer of the day and gave me the
royal treatment. Why did I go into Hamilton instead of Oakland? I knew
exactly where the O club was for some much needed refreshment.

http://www.pirep.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4022&sid=6cd9608b1a6d87673f7e8b596007874e

I wonder how far out he singled up.

 

[eas7888]

Reminded me of this story:

http://www.pirep.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4022&sid=6cd9608b1a6d87673f7e8b596007874e

I wonder how far out he singled up.

Good lord, that's one hell of a flight. Thank god for two engines and some rudder trim. I'm sure he needed a drink after that.

 

[gotta_fly]

Is there a civilian version of OPARS?

 

[Harrier Dude]

Is there a civilian version of OPARS?

What is OPARS?

 

[efilemyr]

Optimum path aircraft routing system. Think mission planing for C-17 / C-5. Decides the best route based on altitude and wind at altitude.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[webmaster]

Optimum path aircraft routing system. Think mission planing for C-17 / C-5. Decides the best route based on altitude and wind at altitude.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

And should be treated with a grain of salt. Run your performance numbers off your aircraft's charts, reference updated winds (almanac or historical data is nice, but may bite you in the ass) and plan accordingly. OPARs is a tool, but I have read more than a few that pilots have run, and they did not realize that their data was not entered properly nor were they planning conservatively. And how many are really tracking it throughout the flight, updating the observed winds on each leg, comparing it to OPARs and the charts? Anyways, garbage in .... garbage out. $J .... My two cents.