Don't Be Afraid to Ask: Don't assume

Oct. 1, 2003

Don't Be Afraid To Ask
Don't assume

Some years ago, my employer branched out and expanded his business holdings. He bought out the flight instruction, charter service, and repair facility at the local airport, somewhat a switch from the heavy trucks and excavation machinery of the original business. I have ended up working at both businesses.

One day I was the available person to run the fuel truck for a freight aircraft which had landed for some fuel, a stretch and a walk for the flight crew, and to use the facilities. I had seen other people have problems "not getting it right" fueling for customers, so I caught the pilot and co-pilot walking toward the FBO. I mentioned that I didn't often run the fuel truck, and asked if one of them would please come with me to make sure I got it right when fueling them. The pilot asked for directions to the bathroom and told the co-pilot he was elected to go with me. Then he headed toward the FBO as a man on a mission.

I got the keys, clipboard, and paperwork for the fuel truck and headed for it with the co-pilot. I thanked him for his willingness to "hold my hand and make sure I got it right." He chuckled and told me it was no problem at all. I got the truck in position, set the ladder, placed the wing mat, and attached the static line. The co-pilot handed the fuel nozzle up to me. I told him "say when" and started pumping fuel. We both watched the meter count up. I filled the first compartment, told him so, and asked where he wanted to put more fuel. He gave me an incredulous look and said "Huh?" I told him "this compartment is full," and asked "where do you want me to put more fuel?"

He looked at the meter, then looked back at me and said, "That's impossible, 10 point 5 gallons will not fill that compartment." I grinned and said, "That's right, but the meter doesn't read 10 point 5 gallons; the last digit is a whole number - not tenths. That's 105 gallons!" When I saw the queasy feeling wash over him at about the same rate the color drained from his face, I figured we had a problem. After regaining his composure, he explained. With good weather covering the whole nation and no foreseen changes, they were as heavy with freight as they dared to be. They were running very light on fuel, and making short hops. We had just put enough fuel weight in the wing to make the co-pilot nauseous at the thought of their total weight and all of the extra toward the tip of one wing!

By then the pilot had come outside to join the assembled mournful. After some discussion and thoughtful figuring by the pilot, they ended up transferring fuel wing to wing to balance things out after starting their engines. They sat a very long time with the engines running before taking off. (Burning off fuel and excess weight.) I watched them eventually lumber down the length of the runway, then slowly gain altitude and diminish to a dot in the sky - eventually to be swallowed up by the blue.

Lesson learned: Can you stand one more time of seeing the word assume cut into pieces? (Ass/u/me; when we assume things, it makes an ass out of u and me.)

It's true. I assumed the co-pilot would read the meter correctly. I never asked, "How much fuel total, and where does it go?" The co-pilot assumed he was reading the meter correctly. He never thought to tell me the total fuel quantity they wanted and where they wanted it.

I appreciate manuals or books with lots of pictures, sketches, diagrams, prints, and illustrations. (Who doesn't?) Yet how seldom I sit down and put pencil to paper for someone or ask someone to do the same for me.

Editor's Note: One way that many of us learn safe maintenance practices is through the lessons learned from someone's mistakes or oversights. By learning from others mistakes or sharing our own lessons learned with others, everyone is more knowledgeable and safety is enhanced. So send us your story of an incident that happened to you or someone you know.


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