Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Situational Awareness
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
I entered the ramp from Taxiway E5; established on the center line. Traveling parallel; same direction; in the designated vehicle lane to my left was a large fuel truck. Rate of travel was approximately 10 - 15 mph with my aircraft overtaking. As I approached where the vehicle lane has a T intersection and runs across the taxi line to the parking ramp; the fuel truck took the turn without stopping. As soon as I noticed the vehicle taking the turn; I immediately initiated a stop with foot brake and full engine reverse. The driver noticed my aircraft as soon as he made the turn and also stopped. The fuel truck then reversed to provide wing tip clearance so I could proceed. If I had taken evasive action that involved any turn away from the fuel truck; it is likely that the left wing tip would have been close to; if not impacting the front area of the fuel truck. There was little to no margin. After parking and securing the aircraft; I did talk to the fuel truck driver. He admitted that he did not see my aircraft and that the large fuel trucks have a blind spot on the right hand side; which is where I was in relationship to him. However; he acknowledged that he did not stop to clear the turn. This vehicle roadway and subsequent T intersection does not have any mandatory vehicle stop markings before traveling across the ramp center line. It may be suggested to add markings to reinforce the practice of stopping to clear the turn. I would also suggest that [the truck operator] add larger mirrors or combination of mirrors to address the blind spot issue if they haven't already. Finally; this underscores the necessity of reasonably slow travel speeds for both aircraft and service vehicles for ALL operators. Had either fuel truck or my aircraft been traveling faster; which has been observed in the past; it is very likely a collision would have occurred despite the evasive action taken.
Small Transport pilot reported a near-collision with a fuel truck while taxiing at PDX.