NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
C150 Flight Instructor reported the engine RPM became erratic during cruise and elected to divert to a nearby airport. The reporter had fueled at the departure airport and noticed traces of water during the preflight sumping but believed that all the water was removed with clean samples. However, a postflight sumping resulted in additional water being found and sumped out of the tank.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
The aircraft was fueled at the self-service pump from ZZZ. Traces of water were found during preflight sumping. It was believed that all water was removed with clean samples. During the cruise phase of flight, engine RPM became erratic. Carburetor heat was applied immediately and ATC was notified of the need to divert to the nearest airport, ZZZ1. After a safe descent and landing, additional water was sumped out of the wing tank. I believe the water had not fully settled after fueling, causing the issue in flight. Later I was informed of a notice from a FAA Safety Inspector regarding the potential fuel contaminants at the ZZZ FBO due to a lack of inspection of the fuel, fueling vehicles, safety equipment, and no documented training on their fueling personnel.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Aircraft Equipment Problem
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Ground Event / Encounter
- Inflight Event / Encounter
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Aircraft · Airport · Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Procedure
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.