When a twin-engine aircraft descended silently toward an outback highway, it wasn’t just fuel that had run out — it was margin, oversight, and a culture of safety.

📍 Location: Near Derby, Western Australia

🗓 Date: 20 June 2023

✈ Aircraft: Cessna 310R (VH-DAW) — Broome Aviation

👥 Occupants: 1 Pilot, 1 Passenger — Pilot seriously injured; passenger less seriously injured

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A Routine Flight Over the Kimberley

It was a clear June morning in 2023 when a Broome Aviation Cessna 310R, registered VH-DAW, lifted off from the red dust of Broome Airport. The pilot, a company regular, had one passenger on board for a short charter across Western Australia’s wild northwest — first to Turkey Creek, then a stop at Derby to refuel before returning home.

The Cessna 310R is a capable twin, beloved by charter operators for its range and versatility. With auxiliary tanks fitted, it can handle long legs and remote strips — perfect for the vast, lonely skies of the Kimberley. But those same features also mean complex fuel management, especially when tanks are switched mid-flight.

Nothing about that morning suggested trouble. Yet a few hours later, both engines would fall silent, forcing a desperate landing on a highway — and triggering an investigation that would expose deep cracks in operational discipline and maintenance culture.

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The Silence at 3,000 Feet

Approaching Derby on the return leg, the pilot noticed something odd. The right engine began surging — fluctuating between power and no power, a sign of fuel starvation. Believing the auxiliary tank might be running low, the pilot switched to the right main tank. It too was nearly empty.

In a twin-engine aircraft, that’s a serious problem — but not necessarily fatal. The pilot tried a cross-feed configuration: drawing fuel from the left main tank to feed both engines. It bought time — but only minutes. Soon, both engines began to surge. Power faded completely.

There were no airports within gliding range. The pilot had one option left: land on the Great Northern Highway.

With remarkable skill, the pilot guided the powerless aircraft toward the road. It hit hard and skidded to a halt in the scrub. The pilot suffered serious head injuries; the passenger escaped with minor wounds. The Cessna was destroyed — but both were alive.

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The Investigation: A Chain of Errors

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) began piecing together what went wrong. The findings, published in 2025, revealed a story far more complex than “ran out of fuel.”

1. Faulty Fuel Planning

The pilot’s preflight calculations assumed all tanks would be used efficiently. But during the trip, one auxiliary tank remained full — meaning much of the aircraft’s total fuel never reached the engines. Misunderstanding of the fuel system layout led to fuel imbalance and eventual starvation.

In other words: the fuel was there — it just couldn’t be reached when it mattered.

2. Operational Oversight and Culture

The ATSB found gaps in supervision and training within Broome Aviation. Some pilots reported feeling pressure to keep flying despite defects or incomplete maintenance.

Maintenance releases — the paperwork confirming an aircraft’s airworthiness — did not always reflect known issues. The culture, it seemed, prioritised keeping aircraft flying over keeping them perfect.

3. Safety Equipment and Injury Prevention

The pilot wasn’t wearing upper-torso restraints (a shoulder harness), though the aircraft was fitted for them. The ATSB concluded that such restraints would likely have prevented or reduced the pilot’s serious head injuries.

4. Regulatory Oversight

Finally, the ATSB noted that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) had previously received reports about Broome Aviation’s safety management but had not fully acted on some of them. Oversight, both internal and external, had slipped through the cracks.

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Beyond the Cockpit: A Systemic Failure

What makes VH-DAW’s story resonate isn’t just the mechanics of fuel management — it’s what it reveals about aviation as a system.

Each flight is supported by layers: maintenance, management, regulation, and human judgment. When any one layer weakens, others must catch the mistake. But when every layer erodes slightly, a preventable event becomes inevitable.

In this case, poor fuel planning, undocumented defects, and a culture of quiet pressure formed a perfect chain. The result wasn’t an act of fate — it was an act of omission.

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Aviation’s Real Lesson

The VH-DAW story is a fascinating study in systems failure. It’s a sobering reminder: aviation safety isn’t just about pilot skill — it’s about how an entire organisation manages risk, communication, and culture.

The pilot of VH-DAW did an extraordinary job landing without power. But no pilot should ever have to use that skill. Safety doesn’t begin in the cockpit; it begins long before takeoff — in the maintenance hangar, the planning desk, and the conversations about what’s “good enough.”