Safety Topics

Abstract

A means to alert the flightcrew of an aircraft's potentially unsafe low fuel quantity was the subject of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued earlier this year. It was emphasised that there have been several recent fuel depletion incidents involving loss of power or thrust on all engines that could have resulted in forced landings and injury or loss of life. Most of these incidents resulted from improper fuel management techniques and this proposal from the FAA would require new transport category aircraft designs to incorporate a low fuel quantity alert to the flightcrew that would allow either correction of certain fuel management errors or the opportunity to make a safe landing prior to engine fuel starvation.

Citation

Mayday (1987), "Safety Topics", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 59 No. 11, pp. 30-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb036540