Pilot Testimony: "I started to lose my engine, made a mayday call into the Palo Alto airport, my destination. I left my farm in Carmel at 6 a.m. this morning, called the airport and asked them to top me off, we don't know what happened, if that did happen or it didn't but clearly I had an engine out. I then, saw kids out in the football field I was trying to make and I couldn't make that. Northbound traffic on 85 was back-to-back and nobody would be able to see me coming down on top of them so I opted to land on the southbound lane. I turned on all of my lights, the cars started to separate, there were a couple of high-speed Porsche SUV's heading my way playing chicken and I was rocking my wings to try and get everyone's attention and I had to put it down. I just feel horrible to everybody in their morning commute and all the first responders here."
What? He asked for fuel and didnt know if it happened? This guys needs his license pulled and never to fly again. What an absolute danger to everyone he could have killed many people.
Let's hope this is a good learning experience and teaches them to always stick their fuel tanks (actually checking how much is in there) during pre-flight.
@@yousefhalabi9695 Don't think they realised he was mayday fuel at that point. ATC isn't the one calling the shots up in the air either. Any pilot can call mayday at any point for any reason they deem necessary, even for other planes. They just have to justify it later with a report. Even if it turns out it didn't need to be a mayday call, it wouldn't matter if you could reasonably believe it would have been
While he’s completely at fault for not verifying fuel before departing (I’m a checklist stickler) and getting himself in that trouble to begin with, I still give him full credit for doing an excellent job at getting it on the ground in one piece and not damaging anyone or anything else in the process. I know two people who have had to do emergency dead stick landings because they told the ramper to fuel it but never confirmed. One was a twin Baron with a passenger in the back. Never understood that mindset of not bothering to check the very thing that is going to keep your engine running in flight. Funny part was a high wing tailwheel looks upside down to a Cirrus guy.
VFR rules state he needs 30 minutes of extra fuel after reaching the destination. The loophole to that rule is if you don't have a destination planned you don't need the fuel. Check and mate. Yes, im being sarcastic.
I have to say, I can't disagree with his reasoning for landing into oncoming traffic. At least the cars had a chance to see him and get out of the way. 85 is a parking lot that time of day.
@@Antonio-lt1sp He was interviewed on the highway by the news and said he called ahead to airport to have the fuel topped off and that he wasn't sure they did. The fuel service was contacted by news and said they have no record of a fuel request.
"I'm not familiar with that intersection, can you give me vectors?" "Just start where the post office used to be, and look south-ish. It'll be north of my Aunt Mary's house."
Man! Glad the pilot and all the commuters are okay. Whatever happens to that guy’s pilot license, let this be a mean reminder to do your whole checklist! And triple check you got your fuel ticket
I just saw this earlier on Juan Brown's channel.. This guy was extremely lucky. A case of never asking someone to top off your tanks and then not making sure during the preflight that it actually happened. A few minutes earlier and he would have been over mountains with no place to set it down.
There is no excuse for running out of fuel, none. Was he relying on the gauges or too lazy to visually check the fuel? In addition, asking the controller what to do, where he was, who gave this guy his license, he has no business in the air. Total nonsense, he should be sent back to ground school and his ticket pulled until he undergoes a flight test by a "qualified" examiner, not some easy-going one.
when I fly GA I'm always closing the fuel caps myself that way I can jump over the wing and check that I see the fuel easily, then close the fuel cap. Never trusting my gauges on any of the many C172, PA28, Tecnams I've flown.
I'm just glad there are no injuries. 93B was a cool dude to help out with locating the plane, which landed in a decent location. I hope answers are forthcoming as to how this happened soon, though.
probably needs to get his eyes checked since he claimed the plane was upside down (if it was really upside down the damn wheels would be visible above the plane) *facepalm*
Luckily there was a John Cooper Works Mini there to save the day! J/K, but they do have good brakes. Dont just check your fuel tanks. Check the carb too, and watch the gauge. Failures can happen at any time, and piston planes arent getting younger and parts arent getting easier to get.
No Dude! It's south of 280, not The 280, this isn't SOCAL! I guess all these controllers are from SOCAL. Oh, he went down on 85. That's all pretty high density housing round there, the only non-road option is a golf course well to the west, and that would require flying over a lot of homes. I used to drive up that road a couple of days each week, when US101 was too busy. At least he crashed near a good pub! Hey, looks like he got out of this only needing gas and some good excuse for running out of same. Well done for saving the controllers from too much trauma.
I used to live nearby - every so often a plane would land on highway 85 because it's lined up with Moffett Field, which has been used for emergency landings. Yeah - it's very dense around there so it's the best option.
DId he... not check his fuel?? It sounds like he's trying to pin the blame on the airport, but it should have ultimately been his responsibility to ensure he has enough fuel before takeoff, which is conveniently also a major part of the preflight checklist.
Aviate, Navigate, Then communicate. Might have been a bit distracted from the idea of changing the transponder. He got the plane to a landing with little to no damage. He won (aside from the report to FAA about being out of gas, which means he didn't properly pre-flight)
Wise move to go in the southbound lanes as Highway 85 would've been jammed with the morning commute. I used to live in Sunnyvale and every so often a plane would land there, usually engine failure. Typically they would make an emergency landing at Moffett Field which is (sort of) lined up with 85
Unusual grey coloring of the aircraft can make it hard to tel if it's inverted or upright from 1500 ft above. also, you expect the plane to land with the traffic instead of against and that gives some confirmation bias to the appearance of it being flipped. The tail is pointed the wrong way. If you think it might have flipped report it flipped. Emergency responders like finding it's not as bad as reported. They are less happy finding out it's worse, for a bunch of reasons.
No if he really ran out of fuel and didn't check his fuel Level as the pinned comment suggests than criticizing him for that isn't really unjustified. I mean I understand if you don't allways check your oil if you fly every day but fuel? Especially with an aircraft where I know that fuel gauges might be off 🤷♂️
It sounds like this guy didn't have any sight. He didn't check his fuel before he left just assumed that somebody filled it up for him? Didn't already have it in his mind what to do in an emergency?
I'd like to say that there's a reason for preflight checklist - so you don't have to singularly rely on the transitory nature of a human brain. Things like forgetting 7700 squawk code are worthy of 20/20 hindsight comments because any of us could be overcome in a moment of panic. There is no justifiable reason for failure to do preflight checklist. Even the 9/11 response F15s had to do checklists.
20/400 foresight says do the preflight, which includes checking fuel levels. The pilot stating that he requested a top-off but doesn't know if it happened means he didn't check fuel levels.
@@luschmiedt1071 The guy admitted right over the air that he was out of fuel. I’m just saying that every Tom Dick and Harry doesn’t need to say “I’d never do that” in the comment section.
I had always assumed that the ATC would be in regular contact with first responders and would generally be the first to contact police, fire, highway patrol, etc, in the vicinity of an emergency. I assumed wrongly, it seems.
Back in the late 70s a friend flew traffic for a radio station and I would do piloting and he did traffic an could build time. One time a co-worker ask he could replace me as a ride along. The aircraft was a citabra and ran out fuel and landed on the 15th fairway of connelly fort golf course. All was good and park police took him to get fuel and flew out. Much paper work
Unless there was some kind of fuel leak, Pull his ticket!!!!! Preflight actions ignored and then endangering other due to his own carelessness. This guy sucks!
I was listening to the local AM traffic report when this happened. There was a heavy duty tow truck on the scene almost immediately, but 2 lanes (of 4) were closed until 11:00 am when they got the plane taken away. A small nit with Moffett tower - we don't say "the" in front of highways numbers (i.e. the 280, the 85) here in NorCal. That's a SoCal thing.😄. Otherwise good work.
I'm not an aviator so I don't understand what pilots see when they get in the plane. Does the gauge not provide enough accuracy? Or is it that the gauge doesn't work until the engine is started? I'm just a bit perplexed why a pilot would take less care than I take just driving to the airport. Wouldn't they see the fuel level gauge as soon as they sat in the plane?
Question: Do pilots consider it a selfish act to try and land ona freeway? I mean you're trying to preserve your life over several down below. Just curious if what pilots mindset would be in this situation.
In the event of a forced landing, you are already choosing the least bad option. US85 south of I280 in Cupertino has residential neighborhoods, parks, local roads and the freeway as options. While his diligence in conducting a preflight was questionable, and Jesus MAYDAY Christ were his comms sloppy, he made the best call he could after having preempted otherwise better options (like not running out of fuel and arriving at his destination).
Not sure the pilot saw it, the passenger is in a low wing light plane, and probably doesn't know what a carbon cub is, if they actually were told the type. I guess either or both assumed a low wing plane and thought it had flipped.
They do, but they're not as reliable. The saying is not to trust them between full and empty 😅 - that's why you usually visually inspect them during preflight. My first thought was an unreliable gauge (if known, there was absolutely no excuse to not check it visually and that kind of failure lead to the Air Canada glider situation). (Actually similar on larger jets, since after refuelling it's mostly based on calculations.)
I'm really not familiar with such procedures but why is ATC trying hard to get so much information about the crashed plane? Isn't it enough when emergency vehicles on the ground respond to the crash?
Pilot Testimony: "I started to lose my engine, made a mayday call into the Palo Alto airport, my destination. I left my farm in Carmel at 6 a.m. this morning, called the airport and asked them to top me off, we don't know what happened, if that did happen or it didn't but clearly I had an engine out. I then, saw kids out in the football field I was trying to make and I couldn't make that. Northbound traffic on 85 was back-to-back and nobody would be able to see me coming down on top of them so I opted to land on the southbound lane. I turned on all of my lights, the cars started to separate, there were a couple of high-speed Porsche SUV's heading my way playing chicken and I was rocking my wings to try and get everyone's attention and I had to put it down. I just feel horrible to everybody in their morning commute and all the first responders here."
That guy is a simple fool.
What? He asked for fuel and didnt know if it happened? This guys needs his license pulled and never to fly again. What an absolute danger to everyone he could have killed many people.
Let's hope this is a good learning experience and teaches them to always stick their fuel tanks (actually checking how much is in there) during pre-flight.
Idiot pilot risked everyone on the freeway. If he put it down anywhere near my loved-ones he'd better get his prop rotating again pretty quick...
@@cronk6879I'm asking because I don't know... I'm guessing it's not reasonable to assume your tank was filled when you asked it to be?
If only there was an emergency squawk code.
5361 isn't the new emergency squawk code?
or idk sumping your tanks before take off
I was about to say the same thing lol… like bro just use 7700
Question is how come atc didnt assign him 7700? Is that not a thing
@@yousefhalabi9695 Don't think they realised he was mayday fuel at that point. ATC isn't the one calling the shots up in the air either. Any pilot can call mayday at any point for any reason they deem necessary, even for other planes. They just have to justify it later with a report. Even if it turns out it didn't need to be a mayday call, it wouldn't matter if you could reasonably believe it would have been
7700…. You are fuel emergency. MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL
While he’s completely at fault for not verifying fuel before departing (I’m a checklist stickler) and getting himself in that trouble to begin with, I still give him full credit for doing an excellent job at getting it on the ground in one piece and not damaging anyone or anything else in the process.
I know two people who have had to do emergency dead stick landings because they told the ramper to fuel it but never confirmed. One was a twin Baron with a passenger in the back. Never understood that mindset of not bothering to check the very thing that is going to keep your engine running in flight.
Funny part was a high wing tailwheel looks upside down to a Cirrus guy.
VFR rules state he needs 30 minutes of extra fuel after reaching the destination. The loophole to that rule is if you don't have a destination planned you don't need the fuel. Check and mate.
Yes, im being sarcastic.
I have to say, I can't disagree with his reasoning for landing into oncoming traffic. At least the cars had a chance to see him and get out of the way. 85 is a parking lot that time of day.
Props to 93B and 400QF for assisting the towers with the search.
"So uhm.... how did the pre-flight inspection go? Specifically, when you checked fuel levels?"
There could be a leak or something.
@@Antonio-lt1sp He was interviewed on the highway by the news and said he called ahead to airport to have the fuel topped off and that he wasn't sure they did. The fuel service was contacted by news and said they have no record of a fuel request.
@@michaelacookePDXHe didn’t inspect the fuel level before takeoff. Roger.
Possible, but old dudes aren't known for being the most thorough in their checklists or procedures.
@@michaelacookePDXthe lack of the fuel ticket is a teeeeency hint as to the absence of fueling
Good reminder to always verify fuel in the fuel tanks physically if possible and not fully trust looking at the gauges, especially in the dark!
At 1:27 "I'm going down on the freeway, it's not going to be pretty."
"I'm not familiar with that intersection, can you give me vectors?"
"Just start where the post office used to be, and look south-ish. It'll be north of my Aunt Mary's house."
Man! Glad the pilot and all the commuters are okay. Whatever happens to that guy’s pilot license, let this be a mean reminder to do your whole checklist! And triple check you got your fuel ticket
I just saw this earlier on Juan Brown's channel.. This guy was extremely lucky. A case of never asking someone to top off your tanks and then not making sure during the preflight that it actually happened. A few minutes earlier and he would have been over mountains with no place to set it down.
Took off at 6:30am, ran out of fuel at 7:10am . Outstanding aviator. Glad he's alive, but he's no Sully.
No, an outstanding aviator is one that reacts well to things outside of their control. A lucky one is one that survives their own incompetence.
@@ImpendingJoker It was sarcasm. Pilot made the biggest mistake possible.
Finally the controller provided the vector, geez.
There is no excuse for running out of fuel, none. Was he relying on the gauges or too lazy to visually check the fuel? In addition, asking the controller what to do, where he was, who gave this guy his license, he has no business in the air. Total nonsense, he should be sent back to ground school and his ticket pulled until he undergoes a flight test by a "qualified" examiner, not some easy-going one.
PIC... Supposed to verify fuel level before taxi out to the runway...
Asking for a fill-up does not mean they did it.
when I fly GA I'm always closing the fuel caps myself that way I can jump over the wing and check that I see the fuel easily, then close the fuel cap. Never trusting my gauges on any of the many C172, PA28, Tecnams I've flown.
I'm just glad there are no injuries. 93B was a cool dude to help out with locating the plane, which landed in a decent location. I hope answers are forthcoming as to how this happened soon, though.
probably needs to get his eyes checked since he claimed the plane was upside down (if it was really upside down the damn wheels would be visible above the plane) *facepalm*
I use this freeway almost everyday! Couldn’t believe it when I heard about it.
Sir, Fly Left at the McDonalds 1/4 mile then turn Right at the In And Out Burger.
Risky move landing head-on with traffic but glad it worked out. Always check those fuel tanks folks.
He's right though, they're the only ones who can see him coming.
Luckily there was a John Cooper Works Mini there to save the day! J/K, but they do have good brakes.
Dont just check your fuel tanks. Check the carb too, and watch the gauge. Failures can happen at any time, and piston planes arent getting younger and parts arent getting easier to get.
I suppose it's like walking on a roadway: if you walk _with_ traffic, you can't see a car coming until it's already hit you.
@@Alex-js5lgThis is exactly the reason for pedestrians to walk on the left side of a road in some countries.
@@TinLeadHammerit is the law here too in Florida, USA
No Dude! It's south of 280, not The 280, this isn't SOCAL! I guess all these controllers are from SOCAL. Oh, he went down on 85. That's all pretty high density housing round there, the only non-road option is a golf course well to the west, and that would require flying over a lot of homes. I used to drive up that road a couple of days each week, when US101 was too busy. At least he crashed near a good pub! Hey, looks like he got out of this only needing gas and some good excuse for running out of same. Well done for saving the controllers from too much trauma.
I was totally wondering the same thing!!
I used to live nearby - every so often a plane would land on highway 85 because it's lined up with Moffett Field, which has been used for emergency landings. Yeah - it's very dense around there so it's the best option.
Yes - I lived in that area (Saratoga) for 35 years and almost nobody would say "the 280" or "the 85" except SoCal transplants.
DId he... not check his fuel??
It sounds like he's trying to pin the blame on the airport, but it should have ultimately been his responsibility to ensure he has enough fuel before takeoff, which is conveniently also a major part of the preflight checklist.
Gee, I wonder what 7700 is for? Just asking.....
Aviate, Navigate, Then communicate.
Might have been a bit distracted from the idea of changing the transponder.
He got the plane to a landing with little to no damage. He won (aside from the report to FAA about being out of gas, which means he didn't properly pre-flight)
Wise move to go in the southbound lanes as Highway 85 would've been jammed with the morning commute. I used to live in Sunnyvale and every so often a plane would land there, usually engine failure. Typically they would make an emergency landing at Moffett Field which is (sort of) lined up with 85
Upside down report definitely could use some follow up clarification.
Unusual grey coloring of the aircraft can make it hard to tel if it's inverted or upright from 1500 ft above.
also, you expect the plane to land with the traffic instead of against and that gives some confirmation bias to the appearance of it being flipped. The tail is pointed the wrong way.
If you think it might have flipped report it flipped. Emergency responders like finding it's not as bad as reported. They are less happy finding out it's worse, for a bunch of reasons.
Plus, emergency responders were already there. The field just wanted to know that the plane did, in fact, land and has emergency services present.
Gladvthat ended well, and NOT upside down... 🤔
I’d like to start by saying that everyone in the comments has 20/20 hindsight.
No if he really ran out of fuel and didn't check his fuel Level as the pinned comment suggests than criticizing him for that isn't really unjustified. I mean I understand if you don't allways check your oil if you fly every day but fuel? Especially with an aircraft where I know that fuel gauges might be off 🤷♂️
It sounds like this guy didn't have any sight. He didn't check his fuel before he left just assumed that somebody filled it up for him?
Didn't already have it in his mind what to do in an emergency?
I'd like to say that there's a reason for preflight checklist - so you don't have to singularly rely on the transitory nature of a human brain. Things like forgetting 7700 squawk code are worthy of 20/20 hindsight comments because any of us could be overcome in a moment of panic. There is no justifiable reason for failure to do preflight checklist. Even the 9/11 response F15s had to do checklists.
20/400 foresight says do the preflight, which includes checking fuel levels. The pilot stating that he requested a top-off but doesn't know if it happened means he didn't check fuel levels.
@@luschmiedt1071 The guy admitted right over the air that he was out of fuel. I’m just saying that every Tom Dick and Harry doesn’t need to say “I’d never do that” in the comment section.
If you gotta run out of fuel -- Carbon Cub is not a bad option. Excellent STOL aircraft.
I had always assumed that the ATC would be in regular contact with first responders and would generally be the first to contact police, fire, highway patrol, etc, in the vicinity of an emergency. I assumed wrongly, it seems.
If it’s in a more retreated area away from commercial airports they might be the only controller there and can’t afford to detach from their post 🤷
got lucky ❤
They're saying it was a fuel leak
Back in the late 70s a friend flew traffic for a radio station and I would do piloting and he did traffic an could build time. One time a co-worker ask he could replace me as a ride along. The aircraft was a citabra and ran out fuel and landed on the 15th fairway of connelly fort golf course. All was good and park police took him to get fuel and flew out. Much paper work
Unless there was some kind of fuel leak, Pull his ticket!!!!! Preflight actions ignored and then endangering other due to his own carelessness. This guy sucks!
"THE" 280? "THE" 85? WTF, are we importing controllers from SoCal now?
I thought all of CA used that odd method of describing their interstates.
Landed safely, yay.
But no fuel? FREDA
How does he not know if he got fueled up??
What's FREDA?
@@16MedicRN Cruise checks, that you are to do regularly when flying. Fuel, Radio, Engine, Direction, Altitude.
@@kaasmeester5903 that's awesome 😎
@@16MedicRNThe name of my tortoise. 🐢 😂
I was listening to the local AM traffic report when this happened. There was a heavy duty tow truck on the scene almost immediately, but 2 lanes (of 4) were closed until 11:00 am when they got the plane taken away. A small nit with Moffett tower - we don't say "the" in front of highways numbers (i.e. the 280, the 85) here in NorCal. That's a SoCal thing.😄. Otherwise good work.
Wow as a SoCal kid that is so interesting to me!
I'm not an aviator so I don't understand what pilots see when they get in the plane. Does the gauge not provide enough accuracy? Or is it that the gauge doesn't work until the engine is started?
I'm just a bit perplexed why a pilot would take less care than I take just driving to the airport. Wouldn't they see the fuel level gauge as soon as they sat in the plane?
Buttpucker factor of 100
93braooo lol glad he was able to help tho
Kudos to all involved!
Question: Do pilots consider it a selfish act to try and land ona freeway? I mean you're trying to preserve your life over several down below. Just curious if what pilots mindset would be in this situation.
i mean...the interstate system is literally designed and intended to be used as backup runways in the event that it's necessary
In the event of a forced landing, you are already choosing the least bad option. US85 south of I280 in Cupertino has residential neighborhoods, parks, local roads and the freeway as options. While his diligence in conducting a preflight was questionable, and Jesus MAYDAY Christ were his comms sloppy, he made the best call he could after having preempted otherwise better options (like not running out of fuel and arriving at his destination).
I don't think you can land any aircraft upside down with the whole thing still intact ...
Sounds like a new thing I gotta try
New feature on the Carbon Cub?
Not sure the pilot saw it, the passenger is in a low wing light plane, and probably doesn't know what a carbon cub is, if they actually were told the type. I guess either or both assumed a low wing plane and thought it had flipped.
@@TDOBrandano Makes sense. A high wing can look a bit like a flipped low wing, especially from a distance.
@@aussiebloke609 Add to that the slightly darker livery, most people expect light planes to be white at least on top.
The obersver said he flipped over but that didnt appear to be the case?
Might be the perspective.
So question, do aircraft not have a fuel gauge like a car?
They do, but they're not as reliable. The saying is not to trust them between full and empty 😅 - that's why you usually visually inspect them during preflight. My first thought was an unreliable gauge (if known, there was absolutely no excuse to not check it visually and that kind of failure lead to the Air Canada glider situation).
(Actually similar on larger jets, since after refuelling it's mostly based on calculations.)
Upside down??
Lots of contributing factors here…….wealthy, liberal, “NPC”…….go figure the outcome
Excellent emergency landing. Kudos to that Cub pilot. Thank you Victor!
no, that guy was an idiot. read his own admission... I hope he losses his license.
Unless we find out that he had a massive sudden fuel leak, that's not a Kudos for me to that pilot even though he landed safely on the ground.
@ yeah which obviously changes things. But I think we all know.
I'm really not familiar with such procedures but why is ATC trying hard to get so much information about the crashed plane? Isn't it enough when emergency vehicles on the ground respond to the crash?
They probably didn't know that emergency vehicles were already there. It sounded like news to them when it was reported to them.
Yeah they need to go off the assumption that it could have gone down unseen and need to try and direct emergency vehicles.
How do people run out of gas LOL Full the stupid tank up.
😂😂😂 You should check blancolirio's new cowboy song!
Do pilots receive a licence suspension for this sort of negligent flying?