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avee8tor13

Well Known Member
Seems a number of aircraft are experiencing engine cut off right after takeoff.
Is there one problem that seems to surface more over others?

Thoughts?
 
I agree

Reading the NTSB accident reports it sure seems that fuel starvation is the number one reason engines fail in flight. Pop the caps, do a visual inspection of the tanks. 10 seconds to save your behind.
 
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Most of the reports I have read

Fuel starvation as has been mentioned or contamination (usually water). Some of the fuel starvation cases are in airplanes that have fuel onboard but an empty tank is selected. I have experienced engine cut out once when I took off with a partially full tip tank selected. In that case when the plane was in the nose up attitude climbing out the fuel gravitated to the rear of the tank and left the pick-up tube sucking air. Power was restored when I switched tanks.

Bob Axsom
 
I also agree...fuel starvation seems to be a common theme in many engine failures, and it seems to have been so for as long as I can remember (not a new theme by any stretch).

A couple techniques for consideration...don't switch fuel tanks just before takeoff, or when down low entering the pattern; and if the motor was to fail just after turning the boost pump off during climbout, or just after switching tanks in flight, the best advice a good friend once gave me was "if it fails after you do something, undo what you just did" (turn the boost pump back on, or switch the tanks back to the one that was working).

There are other reasons for power failures (oil leaks/loss, prop governor failures, powerplant mechanical failures...my C-150 engine failure a long time ago was due to a piston pin failing) but they seem less common in accident reports than no more "go-juice".

Just some thoughts.

Cheers,
Bob
 
How about checklists? If more pilots actually used them, we'd eliminate fuel starvation, takeoffs on the improper tank, fuel selector off, seat belts around controls, control locks not removed, etc.
One of the other major problems is continued VFR into IMC. Did you know that 90% of the pilots killed in weather related accidents are buried on nice days?
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
Many are also due to modification of the fuel system. Do NOT modify your fuel system unless A) you really do know what you're doing, B) you have a specific reason to modify your fuel system, C) you are using a proven modification, AND D) it is thoroughly tested.

Even with all of the above done, many problems with fuel systems won't rear their ugly heads until atmospheric pressure is reduced (i.e. in a climb). Also unproven modifications need to be tested in all attitudes.

Many times, changes to the fuel system aren't very apparent. Switch to perhaps a larger engine... you've modified your fuel system (read Fate is the Hunter, second to last chapter). Re-route a single fuel line because you've added a component or changed something else... you've modified your fuel system (An aircraft that is no longer in service).

Think it out thoroughly have it designed, cross-checked and tested before making critcal modifications. You can't be too careful.

Jerry
 
After annuals...

....have also been causes. On a first flight in my boss's Cessna 310, the right engine quit as the gear came up. The fuel line to the distribution block came off...it was only started and never had a wrench on it.

Regards,
 
pierre smith said:
....have also been causes. On a first flight in my boss's Cessna 310, the right engine quit as the gear came up. The fuel line to the distribution block came off...it was only started and never had a wrench on it.

Regards,
Click to expand...

Another good reason to use Torque Seal!
 
RV8Squaz said:
Many are also due to modification of the fuel system. Do NOT modify your fuel system unless A) you really do know what you're doing, B) you have a specific reason to modify your fuel system, C) you are using a proven modification, AND D) it is thoroughly tested.

Even with all of the above done, many problems with fuel systems won't rear their ugly heads until atmospheric pressure is reduced (i.e. in a climb). Also unproven modifications need to be tested in all attitudes.

Many times, changes to the fuel system aren't very apparent. Switch to perhaps a larger engine... you've modified your fuel system (read Fate is the Hunter, second to last chapter). Re-route a single fuel line because you've added a component or changed something else... you've modified your fuel system (An aircraft that is no longer in service).

Think it out thoroughly have it designed, cross-checked and tested before making critcal modifications. You can't be too careful.

Jerry
Click to expand...

Maybe there is a check list that would prevent some engine outs but familiarity with the system and proper use is hard to attribute to reading a checklist - just my observation. If you build the airplane you have to develop your own fuel system - many are similar but if you have an experimental airplane there probably is no other airplane with an identical fuel system. The fuel system is certainly critical has to go through integration and test just like all the other systems for human interface as well as basic function. Sometimes builders make a compromise in one parameter to satisfy another design objective and future users can be compromised - John Denver for example.

Bob Axsom
 
I read somewhere that about 80% of all engine failures were due to fuel starvation.

If you look at causes of general aviation crashes, it comes out as this according to one website:

Pilot errors due to fatigue or negligence
Pilot errors due to skill based errors
Pilot errors due to perception errors
Negligent maintenance or repair
Failure to comply with FAA regulations
Faulty Equipment
Federal air traffic controller error
 
Improperly installed or designed fuel venting components are a major cause of engine failures on T/O in experimental aircraft.
 
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