OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, 725 PILOTS have crashed airplanes because of fuel problems. Of those, 94 were fatal. Many could have been easily avoided. Our initial reaction to most fuel accidents is that some other idiot makes these terrible decisions, not us. But this is a flippant attitude that ignores the challenges we face flying an airplane out in the real world. Beating weather, landing at an airport without fuel, and stretching the leg another few minutes are all seemingly decent reasons not to refuel, and therefore push our luck. That number also includes fuel starvation accidents, which are often mechanical problems, and those can't be ignored either. No, we must dig into the accidents and recognize our own shortcomings to ensure we don't get caught up in these types of decisions ourselves. But, boy, it can be hard to relate.
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