INSIDE SCOOP: It ran out of fuel *DOH*. The Dipstick isn't reading correctly so they weren't to blame. I was just down at Welly aero club. Helped to pre-flight their Nanchang so that it can go over to Omaka (Right now in fact). They're going to make new dipsticks for both as they have exact replicas
I would still call that pilot error ! ... if i was to run machinery without double checking , something giving a false reading , i shut it down , the tanks were obviously near empty ,but the 'old she ll be jake' caught em out !
No something severely wrong with the dipsticks and the fuel tanks themselves. I think I heard someone say that more fuel get forced into the part of the tank that you dip than there really is overall. Like a hydraulic effect if there is air caught above the fuel in one half of the tank.