Can't blame the pilot, the gauges were bad. Plus fuel must cost a heck of lot more in Key West. Thankfully, everyone survived. Must be the luck of the Irish.

About 8 years ago, my wife, son and I chartered a plane from the same airport for a 2 day (one night) round trip to Key West.

The very young pilot had large ear rings and was wearing a "Metallica" (hard rock) T-shirt.
I won't talk about his haircut...

Never did that again.

I thought a manual fuel check was a part of the pre-flight inspection. Any pilot care to address this question?

Pilot error, without a doubt. Gauges my foot! A pilot KNOWS the fuel load & burn- Or he is NO pilot.

CutthoratLiberal is right on the money. How many pilots can crash land in the ocean and have all survivors? Without serious injuries even!!!! There is no copilot on a small aircraft and the pilot cannot do everything. The large Airlines have people to check the gas levels. You cannot expect all this on small planes. Why is everyone so critical? The surviors are now fine back in Ireland probably laughing about their excitement!

The PILOT is responsible. All the checks are done on the GROUND, before flight. Don't comment if you have no KNOWLEDGE.

Pilot & air traffic controller, thank you.

Post again when you get your G.E.D.

Sad Tale. Pilot error all the way. It is said this pilot was a retired airline pilot with a lot of experience in this aircraft. A round trip to Key West of about an 1 1/2 hours was well within the 4 -5 hr. capability of this aircraft. He obviously left Marco without enough fuel for the round trip. Aircraft fuel gages are notoriously unreliable and you should never bet your life on them. He failed to use his superior judgment and was very lucky in using his skill in the ditching. The lawyers will have a field day!

Retired Airline Pilot

This pilot saved the day here.

Have you actually boarded a plane operated by Marco Island Executive Airport maharg?

It's an eye-opening experience...and one that I'm happy to live to tell about...and yes...I flew planes there, too.

To say planes there are in TIP-TOP shape is untrue. These planes were in poor condition to fly, even after I did the ground checks. Some days it was hit or miss with the way Cessnas were maintained there.

There's student pilots flying into this uncontrolled airpspace, clipping parked plane wings as they attempt to park to have their logs checked in at the front desk.....ooops I didn't see it when I hit it...then they fly back to their home schools.

So for this Irishman and his family to be alive, after flying a plane from this airport is a lucky charm for this family.

The pilot saved his family.....and we will see what the investigation reveals.

Always top off before you take off.

AguaMan, running out of fuel, bad gages or not, is the most INDEFENSIBLE error in all of aviation. It is sad because the pilot knows it. Nothing much will happen to this pilot other than a possible suspension of his license and maybe not even that because of his skill in the ditching. The liability of his company is enormous and they will be lucky to survive. Look for something like this to happen to a major airline in the future with the cost of fuel skyrocketing and companies trying to reduce fuel loads to reduce weight and costs.

I am and aviation instructor and have thousands of hours flying. There is no excuses for this the pilot, he has allowed himself to get complacent, and he risked his life and the lives of his passengers. Every pilot that is worth anything always checks fuel load prior to flight and a commercial pilot has the added responsibility to the public to assure that he has an airworthy aircraft prior to flight. Even the airline pilot has the final responsibility to assure his aircraft has the proper fuel load for the trip. Forget the gauges even in the best jet fuel gauge are not to be trusted. The fuel can be check by the last fuel ticket which shows quantity the was added the aircraft tanks and was charged to the aircraft and the hours the plane was operated. Any pilot must know the fuel on board prior to flight.
Every mistake like this is a black eye to aviation.

OK my turn. As another former airline, (MD-80) Captain, and a corporate pilot after my airline died, this is nothing short of pilot error people. Every professional pilot knows what his or her aircraft burns in pounds or gallons per hour. Given the type of aircraft this was, his takeoff weight due to the passenger load, he could not have departed with a full bag of gas and been legal. He knew this, blasted it he knew this, yet he did not put on more fuel for the trip back. His fault was in trying to save his company some money. His experience as a retired porfessional pilot saved them. All of us would win the lotto tomorrow befor two engines would quit at almost the same time people. Any one want to place a bet that the NTSB report will be anything else but "Pilot Error"? Even in the MD-80's that I flew, the fuel guages sometimes were inop, but we walked under the wings, and pulled down the dip sticks that showed how much Jet-A we had in the wings. There is always a way to check gas or Jet-A in any aircraft. You just have to want to do it. Heck, if I mess up, I'm the first one at the scene of the accident. OK, I'm done.

The cost of fuel in Key West is higher, which makes the pilot wonder if he can make the trip without refueling there. He should have topped it off.

I suspect the big airliners have more accurate fuel gauges so we don't read about 747's going down due to running out of gas. As a frequent passenger on smaller craft I'm worried. What can a passenger do to make sure there is enough gas? Should we insist the pilot top off each trip at the risk of making him/her angry or what?

You just had to save a buck, didn't you!!!
;-)

The fuel load of an airliner is determined by two people, a licensed dispatcher and the captain. It must be enough to meet all regulatory requirements and may include additional amounts for contingencies. These excess amounts have been whittled away with the increase in fuel costs. Passengers have no say in the fuel load. Only aircraft performing maximum duration flights need full tanks. Indeed, full tanks would often require passengers to be left behind. This aircraft may not have been able to have full tanks due to the five passengers and pilot. Pilots get paid to not make errors like these, especially on an overwater flight. These people were extremely lucky. Pilots seldom practice ditching

By regs the only time the fuel gauges have to be accurate is when they are empty.

I'd stil fly w/ them...they are on the best behavior now.
Gotta go sometime...its your time its your time...it obviously was NOT the planeload of passengers time.
The pilot made the problem but saved the day.
I'm glad no one was killed.

Pilot error period!! No exuse not to check your gas. The pilot did a great job in landing on the water but he should have his license suspended, and the charter companys part 135 should also be suspended. The pilot put 6 lives in jepordy. Six more miles and he would of crash landed on land, maybe into a house. I am a instrument, multi engine rated pilot.

when you read the article it sounds like the pilot knew the gauges were not correct before the flight yet did not double ck the fuel. Shame on him.

I owned a twin like this plane for 20 plus years and know it only burns about 25 to 30 gal's per hour. He should have left Marco with enough fuel for the round trip if he didn't want to spend a few extra cents in the keys. He is either a total idiot or has alltimeers but either way he should never be legal again. He's lucky he had water under him instead of trees & or mangroves, as Im sure the results would be different.

I have to blame the pilot on this one.... It's the pilots responsibilty to check the fuel before take off. At least no one was hurt in this incident

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swamp4u...if it is up to mechanics at this airport, they will rebuild it to see if it will fly again.

Then they'll throw student pilots into it for giggles.

Five bucks on whether this guys takes off.

No, five bucks he'll be hit by a crosswind, overcorrect, and land amongst the gators in the lake a wee bit off the runway.

Double-or-nothing, he'll even make it back to the airport when the saltwater corrodes his instruments.

I flew with Captain Bob in March with two other friends. On the trip back from Key West, we were either able to have outside lights turned on, with no instrument lights on, or vice-versa. So Capt. Bob used a flashlight to light the cockpit instrument panel part of the time. When he needed full inside lights we were flying in the dark (our return flight was almost an hour late) with absolutely no outside lights. Lucky to be alive. Perhaps the gauges were not wired correctly, but he should have known that and done a manual check beforehand.

bherbers, you should contact the FAA at http://www.faa.gov/passengers/travel_... about your flight. I suspect they will be very interested in it. It sounds like both his alternators had failed. This sounds like systematic failure within Marco Aviation.