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The Case Of The Missing Gas Pump.

Jerry Burr

MEMBER
Sedro Woolley, Washington.
They say that most accidents are the result of a chain of mistakes. I had never given much thought to how early that chain could began. I had been flying to Alaska to participate in the Short Field Contests at Gulkana for six years, when this event took place. My travel route and stops were well known to me, and I could fly most of the route by heart.
Canada had by then removed most of the useful information from their sectional charts. They were trying to force everyone to buy the $35 flight supplements, every four months or so in addition to the charts. I usually stopped by the book store and checked both of my control tower stops for frequency changes and that sort of thing. This proceedure had worked fine for many years.
If I was leaving on Thursday after work, I could usually clear Customs at Abbotsford and get as far as Quesnel before dark. Then usually finish the trip the next day. If I was leaving on Thursday morning I would go straight from Abbotsford to McKenzie for fuel. I don't know for sure when I had last stopped at Quesnel for fuel.
I had done quite well at Gulkana that year and was headed home. My usual stop at the north end of the trench was Watson Lake. I was fighting a bad north wind through the Pine Lake area, other than that the weather was great. With the north wind I smoked down the trench in record time. I arrived at McKenzie way fat on fuel, so decided to go to Prince George. At Prince George I still had that beautiful tailwind up at 5,000 feet, and decided to continue on to Quesnel. When I taxied in for fuel, I was in for the shock of my life. No fuel pump. No fuel dock. No concrete apron. ( It was all just grass). It was time to get serious.
I have tested my fuel system many times, and have the sight gages marked very accurately. I didn't check my fuel in the pattern while the wings were level. ( I was there to refuel so why bother?) But I had a good idea of how much was left. I checked time versus fuel to the 100 Mile House Airport, and I could do it. No wind and no fooling around. I plotted the coordinates off of the chart. Remember no identifier, no nothing on the chart. And laid them into the GPS. After I had departed it was obvious that I had picked up a head wind. Just the opposite of the direction that I had at altitude. So I stayed as low as possible.
The terrain in this area is aligned east and west. You will fly over a large valley of nice green fields, then over pine trees for about an equal length of time. And it repeats itself over and over. Either you have a very good place to land, or a very bad one.
I had drained my right tank several times and I knew it was empty. I was down to a known amount of fuel and an unkown amount of time. I had flown six hours and 40 minutes so far, and was getting very low on fuel.
Suddenly the doghouse turned over and the GPS said I had just passed the station. If it was there I didn't see it. I realized that my computation had been in error. I didn't know by how far. It could be one mile or ten. That's enough. Time to land. I picked a nice big ranch and landed next to the house and garage. I went to the house and all around but there was no one home. I sat for a long while on the porch, when I noticed a gas can sitting in the carport. It was about 3/4 full and yep, it was gas. I took it down to the Cub and chammied it into the tank. I took the empty can back to the house and left it on the porch with an American $20 bill and a thank you note. I took off and as I was climbing through 1500 feet I could see the airport. I was actually in the pattern so I cut the power and landed. The airport was surrounded by trees and you had to look down to see it. I had been running low to minimize the headwind.
As I was refueling I mentioned the story to the gas guy. I don't remember him saying more than five words the whole time that I was there. I finished fueling, taxied out and took off.
It was an uneventful hop to Bellingham to clear Customs and then a short hop to my strip. The Cub was parked in the hanager by dusk. What was usually an 18 to 20 hour trip had taken 17 hours flat.
I had forgotten the whole thing, when about three weeks later I got a call from the FAA in Seattle. The question was: Had I flown through Canada, and would I tell him, my side of the story. It seems the gas fellow had made it sound like a Flying Circus had been to town. But what had angered them was that I had landed and taken off at a MF airport, without using the radio. In Canada MF is manditory frequency. It's basically a FSS that acts like a Control Tower but dosen't control. It was my mistake by omission, as I had never intended to land there. I am certified for car gas, and had strained it so no problem there.
When our Sectionals started being printed with grey freeways, so that you can't see them, I was disappointed. But Lord, I hope we never follow Canada's lead on leaving off the rest of the information. Jerry.
 
Speaking of chart usage.......I use the Skyprints WAC's for good VFR. You know the ones in the book where you are sent periodical updates. I flew to Garden City, KS last week to pick up a family member of a friend who had a emergency. WX was night CAVU. About 10 miles north I call unicom projecting my intentions to land( blind transmission thinking no one would be there) when a friendly voice came back tellling me it might be advisable to contact the tower if I wish to land there. I did......and when visiting with the gal behind the desk I ask how long the tower had been there......she said about a year and a half. :oops: Lesson learned.....my non-updated chart and my year old Ak-u-Quick had not shown the tower facility.
 
I wish I had a dollar for ever time over the years I've heard someone say "why do I need a new chart, the mountains don't move" Obviously terrain is only part of the total information derived from a chart and a "current chart" to boot.
Brian
 
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