Running on empty
Two different ways to run out. Fuel exhaustion is an aircraft with no usable fuel left on board; fuel starvation is fuel still in a tank that isn't reaching the engine - the wrong tank selected, a blocked vent, a pump that failed. Contaminated fuel (water, the wrong grade) is here too.
Almost all of them end in a forced landing, and the outcome depends on what lies below. Many are survivable.
7,486 occurrences, 1942 to 2026 · 791 fatal, 1,846 deaths
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- Into the cloud: VFR flight into instrument conditions Pilots flying by sight who continued into cloud or darkness. Few of these end well.
- Fire and explosion Fires and explosions before any impact: engines, cabins, cargo holds, wiring and fuel.
- Came apart in the air Structural failures in flight: wings, tails and doors that separated from the aircraft.
- Bird strikes From a gull through a windscreen to geese in both engines of an airliner.