=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/02/24/s= tate1845EST7456.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, February 24, 2003 (AP) Report blames bad fuel estimate for Seattle Stratoliner ditching HELEN JUNG, Associated Press Writer (02-24) 15:45 PST SEATTLE (AP) -- A vintage airliner ran out of gas and ditched in Seattle's Elliott Bay last March because the crew incorrectly estimated how much fuel was aboard, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday. The March 28 crash occurred when the crew aboard the immaculately restored, 62-year-old Boeing 307 Stratoliner -- the last of its kind -- was making a test flight to Boeing Field, the NTSB said in its final report on the crash. The plane ran out of gas and all four engines lost power. The four-man crew ditched the plane in Elliott Bay, just 50 feet from the shore in front of a West Seattle restaurant's lunchtime crowd. The crew members included veteran Boeing test pilots. No one was was hur= t. The plane was pulled from the shallow water 24 hours later. The plane, which had undergone six years of restoration, was originally flown by Pan American Airways in 1940 as the Clipper Flying Cloud. It is being repaired and is to be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's new aviation facility at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. The report found that the crew members relied on fuel gauges to assess h= ow much fuel was in the tanks and failed to verify those levels. The crew chose not to "dip" the tanks -- measure the fuel with a calibrated fuel stick -- because the procedure for the plane had not been verified as accurate, said Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier. The last time the plane's fuel tanks had been filled was eight months before the accident, the NTSB said in an earlier report. Since that refueling, the plane had flown a total of 5 hours and 2 minutes and logged another 7 hours and 9 minutes of engine run-time. The accident occurred after the plane developed problems with its landing gear while headed toward Boeing Field, about three miles south of the bay. The flight engineer and maintenance manager went to manually lower and lock the landing gear. When the flight engineer returned, he noticed the fuel gauges were on zero, the report said. About six miles from the runway, engines lost power, and the pilot set down in the water. Boeing decided the damage from the water landing and saltwater corrosion was fixable. Volunteers have since been working on the plane, and it is on track to make the 2,600-mile flight to Washington, D.C., in July for delivery to the Smithsonian. Boeing built just 10 Stratoliners, the world's first commercial airplane with a pressurized cabin, and the first four-engine airliner to be in scheduled service in the United States. The plane entered service in 1940 with TWA and later with Pan Am, but World War II ended sales as Boeing switched almost entirely to wartime production. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP