A student pilot mistakenly shut off fuel to the engine of an Air Force OA-1K Skyraider II light attack aircraft leading to a forced landing that destroyed the $18 million airplane. Neither the military student nor the civilian instructor were hurt in the crash landing in a field in Oklahoma City last October 23. “The Accident Investigation Board President found, by a preponderance of the evidence, the unintended activation of the fuel shutoff valve caused the mishap, which isolated the fuel supply from the aircraft firewall, starving the engine of fuel in flight,” an Air Force investigation found. The plane, a military version of an Air Tractor 802 crop duster, hit a power line and some street signs before ending up on a grassy slope next to a road near Will Rogers Airport.
The aircraft was on a training flight and had just leveled off at 2,300 feet when the instructor told the student to test the fuselage tank valve. That valve is actuated by pulling a lever. Instead of pulling the lever, the student reached for a fuel cutoff valve that is rotated to the right to cut off fuel to the engine. As the alarms rang and the power bled off, the student saw the fuel cutoff was in the off position and turned the fuel back on without telling the instructor. By this time the instructor was trying to get the fuel back by overriding the fuel control unit. He called a Mayday and headed for the field by the road. The investigators also found that the student’s task saturation, communications challenges, and ineffective CRM along with ineffective task prioritization contributed to the accident. Full report is below.
I would call that a lengthy and thorough review of a quick and obvious ooops. I would also call a converted Air Tractor a great aircraft if having an forced landing, and would be fun to fly.
Leave it to the US military procurement “system” with Congressional approval to turn a $2 million, very well equipped Air Tractor 802 into an $18 million dollar COIN aircraft. We taxpayers have already funded the GFE equipment that gets added to the airframe, we also pay Air Tractor for the airplane fully equipped. Nice deal for Air Tractor. $18 million for a two seat, turbine tail dragged is a mere pittance compared to a new F-35 with a now battle proven pedigree of 25-28% daily operational readiness. So, who cares about a paltry $18 mil. Besides, without the dash cam video, this off airport landing would have never been a public story. Kudo’s to Air Tractor for their stout 802. Certainly a bacon saver should someone accidentally mismanage the fuel system and park it off airport. That safety was built into the $2 million dollar airplane. Not added by the USAF.