FUEL TANK SELECTION

This black and white, animated U.S. Navy training film from 1945 was probably made by the UPA Studios. It is from the "Granpaw Pettibone" series. The toon features the sage title character, a retired pilot himself, recounting a fatal incident involving pilot mismanagement of fuel -- the crash was caused by the pilot failing to select the correct fuel tank. According to Pettibone, out of 1000 engine failure incidents caused by pilots, 50% were caused by inattention to fuel tank status. At 2:53, a pilot discusses how his tank went dry at low level and by the time he switched over, he had lost too much altitude and crashed. Other pilots talk about similar mistakes -- not turning on the fuel pump, or turning the selector to a non-existent drop tank. At 4:44 Pettibone summarizes lessons learned. In 1943, U.S. Navy Commander Spencer "Seth" Warner created the "Grampaw Pettibone" character. Designed by cartoonist Robert Osborn, the character appeared in the Naval Aviation News and on various naval aviation safety posters. These often featured case studies of pilot mistakes that proved consequential if not outright fatal. The "sage of safety" campaign proved successful enough that the Navy commissioned a series of UPA studio cartoons.

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Transcription

[Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] yep looks like another one of those fuel failures there was plenty of gas in this heap yet it ran out of gas because the pilot switched to an empty tank here take a look he made a mistake with that little gizmo right there his fuel selector switch we've been too darn many accidents like this lately too many planes destroyed and damaged many pilots injured killed why during the last year alone there were approximately 1 000 engine failures caused by pilots and over half of these accidents were due to pilots for getting or mishandling their fuel systems now the question is how did these accidents happen i'll tell you how it happened to me i was practicing field carrier landings and was concentrating on making good approaches while i was watching my speed and position in the traffic circle my tank went dry i switched tanks checked my fuel pump too late i was so low i couldn't regain suction [Music] well that's one way others probably had different ways of doing it [Music] i shifted to an empty tank i didn't center my selector valve i shifted to off position i switched okay but didn't use the fuel pump i switched to a drop tank that wasn't there i just forgot to switch thought i had enough fuel wasn't thinking switched okay but however wait a minute wait a minute maybe there's one big reason behind all these mistakes if the fuel system was all you had to worry about you'd always have it on your mind but there's the altimeter the gyro horizon the manifold pressure climb indicator oil temperature lights compass turn and bank indicators guns radio airspeed indicators tabs tachometer navigation charts and a lot more all these things to remember and doesn't seem to be much room left for concentrating on the selector switch does it hmm makes it look kind of unimportant doesn't it but you want to remember that your plane can't fly without fuel so that selector switch is darned important to you you've got to know your fuel system you got to keep track of fuel consumption during every flight most important you've got to switch tanks correctly and furthermore [Music] now for the time being that's all i got to say about fuel you

Sources

YouTube channel: PeriscopeFilm · video ↗ — title, year, format, description, catalog record, video

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