If It Were, Pilot Might Not Have Had Problem

British brain surgeon Donald Campbell, 55, crashed a rented Seneca into a house in West Sussex, England, in April of 2001. The crash's aftermath is finally coming up in court. ANN News-Spy Mike alerted us to the unusual story, a story that might be helpful for the rest of us. After all, why make our own mistakes, when we have so much to learn from other peoples'?

What seems to have happened is this: Dr. Campbell put 23 gallons of gasoline into the Piper Seneca he rented from Sky Liesure Aviation, to cover for his planned trip. The story said he loaded those 23 gallons, rather than the 30 that he had counted on having, because he made a miscalculation in converting liters to gallons. Just what calculation that could have been, was not mentioned. He asked for 90 liters; he should have requested 113 or so.

Let's see: 30 gallons US is 25 Imperial, is 113.6 liters... 23 Imperial gallons (27.6 US) is 104.5 liters... 87 liters (23 US gallons) is just over 19 Imperial... but 113 quarts would have equaled 23 Imperial gallons, and 113 liters equal nearly 30 US gallons -- so there you have it!

At any rate, Dr. Campbell's flight ended in the Shoreham home of Helen Monahan, who had left just five minutes before the Seneca got there to demolish it.

The prosecutor, Phillip Shepherd, said in court, "It would be bad enough to run out of fuel on the fast lane of the motorway but it is unforgivable when you are flying over a residential area." Campbell's eventual punishment or fines are yet to be determined. Dr. Campbell's past, according to reports from the area, includes a previous and similar miscalculation, that happened on a rental from the same firm, a few months previous.

FMI: www.dft.gov.uk