Originally published at: Jet-A Misfueling Blamed For Cessna 421 Accident
The NTSB says a Cessna 421 crashed after being fueled with 145 gallons of Jet-A instead of 100LL.
Always,always,always directly monitor/supervise fueling at a FBO, especially in a turbocharged twin. Monitoring/supervising fueling was mandatory at the pt135 companies I flew for, even for a jet.
We unwittingly fueled our car with diesel one time. It would hardly run.
But the pilot’s decision to take off even though he knew his plane was filled with jet fuel is a stunningly bad choice.
Back before retirement flying and maintaining King Airs, I always monitored the refueling. Number one to prevent misfueling, and to make sure they didn’t destroy the anti siphon valve on the outboard outer wing fuel tanks, which are a real pain to change.
Nature has a way of sorting out bad genetics.
This accident, in part, can be traced back to the airport manager who failed to properly train and supervise line service. Not only is a C421 a piston twin that uses AvGas but the other tactile clues were plenty to prevent this avoidable accident.
Sure, the pilot could have supervised line service and specifically said AvGas, not Jet A, but it’s reasonable to expect line service is reasonably trained and aware of fuel requirements.
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