Fuel exhaustion and fuel starvation accidents continue to be a
problem in the Australian aviation industry, accounting for over 6
per cent of all accidents between 1991 and 2000. Within Australia,
fuel exhaustion refers to those occurrences where the aircraft has
become completely devoid of useable fuel. Fuel starvation refers to
those occurrences where the fuel supply to the engine(s) is
interrupted, although there is adequate fuel on board the aircraft.
The current study investigates the overall rates of, factors
contributing to and significance of fuel-related accidents between
1991 and 2000. While fuel starvation accident rates have remained
relatively stable over the past 20 years, fuel exhaustion accident
rates have shown a significant decrease of 29.6 per cent. Between
1991 and 2000, there were a total of 139 fuel-related accidents
reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). As a
result, 49 lives were lost, with an estimated cost to the
Australian community of between $63 million and $127 million (in
1996 Australian dollars).