Has there been a time when a plane has ran out of fuel?

Question

Has there been a time when a plane has ran out of fuel?

has the plane ever crashed ?

also as a plane crashed on a motor way, or crashed in a werid place?

Answer 1

The great thing about planes are they can glide. So when a plane runs out of fuel/both engines cut out, they can still glide to safety. On some aircraft a small wind powered 'fan' automatically drops and is used to power the main equipment on a plane. The plane that ran into difficulties at Heathrow the other day suffered total engine failure, it still managed to get down safely with no major injuries. They do not know what caused it yet, technical or they say a bird may have flown into one of the engines. So, yes, planes have ran out of fuel, but often survive!

Answer 2

Yes. Unfortunately pilots overestimate the lenght of time fuel will last, and when they do, the plane becomes a glider - sometimes a very heavy one.

Check out the NTSB website - You can read accident reports there...

http://www.ntsb.gov

Answer 3

The fact is airplanes crash everyday.  However, many of them are not commercial planes.  Yes, pilots run out of fuel daily.  It is one of the leading cause of accidents in small light planes.

Answer 4

There have been many instances where planes have run out of fuel in flight. Some made it safely to an airport, others where not as fortunate.

You will find a lost on this page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_starva...

Answer 5

Yes a 747 ran out of fuel on a transatlantic and had to glide in to the Azores (I think it was there). Fairly frequently documented on programs like "Air crash investigation" on Sky tv. There was another case in US/Canada where the crew confused pounds/Kg/litres/gallons and set off with only half the fuel they thought. This one was a complete disaster.

Also in the 80s a light aircraft made an emergency landing in the M2 adjacent to Rochester airport

Answer 6

One very famous incident of a plane supposedly running out of fuel was the final flight of Amelia Earhart in 1937.  Her plane is thought to have crashed into the sea near Howland Island in the central Pacific.  Planes have crashed into roadways, houses, and parking lots, among other places.

Answer 7

Some will remember the disaster  when a British Midland flight crashed whilst trying to land at Manchester Airport and crashed in Stockport centre. The plane fell out of the sky when engine failure led to a loss of control.  That was 35 ago in which 72 passengers and crew were killed.

A Cypriot airliner crashed near Athens in 2005, probably because it ran out of fuel while on autopilot. Another famous case is the  Airbus A330 ran out of fuel over the Atlantic in 2001. Yet its two pilots were able to glide the plane for a full 18 minutes, catching warm-air updrafts, and successfully performed a "dead-stick" landing on the Azores, a mere speck of land 900 miles short of Portugal. It was a feat that prompted awe and amazement, not least from the 291 passengers. When the aircraft slammed down on to the runway at Lajes airport at dawn on 24 August, they took just 90 seconds to evacuate using the emergency slides. Once on their feet - about 10 were hurt in the scramble - they turned back to look at the crippled plane and broke into applause.

Then there was the 'Gimli Glider' incident of the 767 that ran out of fuel between Ottawa and Edmonton, and glided to a landing in Gimli, Manitoba in 1983. It arose out of a mistake in fuelling when Canada had recently switched from the Imperial system of measure (lbs, miles, gallons, etc.) to the metric system (kilograms, litres, kilometers, etc.).

There have been countless small aircrafts running of of fuel and crashing.

Answer 8

I think Lillibut is right - two engines both fail to respond to power demand is either a major mechanical incident (birdstrike - no evidence of that), or error in fuel transfer (providing it had any left)

Answer 9

yes a whirlwind helicopter ran out of fuel in the falklands and what freaky about it the side number is xm666

Answer 10

2 days ago in uk idiot landed on the very end of the runway dumb pilot cant read a freaking fuel gage

Answer 11

OI THATS MY QUESTION YOU HAVE COPIED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

Answer 12

One crashed in a cemetry in ireland three years ago,They are still digging up the bodies.60092 so far.To be honest yes planes have crashed due to having ran out of fuel.

Answer 13

yah amelia earhart ran out of gas.

Answer 14

When I worked at the airport back home, we had an aircraft run out of fuel. It was on final approach for landing, and the pilot forgot to switch to his reserve fuel tank, so simply ran out of fuel.

He managed to land in a field a mile or so from the airport. Nobody was hurt. (It was a tiny, seven-seater aircraft).

Answer 15

The quick answer: Yes, yes, and yes.

As for running out of fuel for commercial airline flights, the statistic is so low it's barely worth considering other than from a manufacturing or maintenance viewpoint. This is a well planned setup for any airliner. As for small, privately owned and flown planes, the sad truth is it happens WAY more than it should when people's planning goes awry usually. Just like a car, you get to know a plane and the wise pilot will always have cautious reserves and understand how the plane they are flying performs. Not to mentioned the WELL documented performance and fuel burn figures for ANY certified airplane. Unfortunately these instances usually end up in plane damage, and in some cases the worst. Diligence is a must!

Answer 16

yes! this is not only because forgetting to feed from the reserve tank but also in an emergency situation nothing to do and nowhere to land. So crash down to a weird place sometimes over a mountain.

Answer 17

On the 8th of January 1989, a British Midland Boeing 737-400, on a routine shuttle flight from Heathrow to Belfast crashed onto the verge of the M1 motorway, near the Leicestershire village of Kegworth, while trying to make an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport following engine problems. Not due to running out of fuel, but it did crash onto the edge of the motorway. As far as I know, no-one driving on the motorway was killed. Check out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...

Answer 18

yes there has thats when it crashed into the twin towers!, duh!

Answer 19

yeah,yesterday at Heathrow,but they will un-doubt ably cover it up with an electrical fault or something.

Answer 20

a plane crashed four streets down from my house in 2002 it happened in far rockaway, ny. now everything is remodeled.

Answer 21

Did it myself.  Landed on a road.  Dent in one wing where it hit a speed limit sign.  Repaired wing; hauled plane to airport, continued trip.

Postscript: previous response refers to the "Gimli Glider".  It is a fascinating tale, well worth your attention.

Answer 22

it is suspected that the BA flight ran out of fuel

BUT

only due to a change in design

the older triple 7's had a back up fuel pump

now they only have one that feeds both engines

if this fails then even if your tanks are full of fuel

it wont get pumped to the engines

Answer 23

I think it happened yesterday at Heathrow UK - the plane only just made the end of the runway!

Answer 24

Yes -in Canada a very large jet and a fascinating story-

http://www.elchineroconcepts.com/Technol...

Answer 25

yes i think the one at heathrow did

i hope the one im travelling on today doesnt run out of fuel

Answer 26

An Air Canada 767 en-route to Europe ran out of fuel because of a leak, the switch that senses mis-weight kept pumping fuel from the other tank, until it was empty.The pilot glided the craft and landed safely on a military airfield on a tiny island in the Azores with no engines !