Don Patrick
Well Known Member
I thought I would share this experience so that others may take something away from it.
Last evening I went for a quick flight in my 8 from my local airport to a BBQ about a 25 minute flight away. Nice enjoyable flight with no issues.
I have noticed that my right fuel tank drain has had a slight drip coming from it and my plan was to replace it this week with a new one.
So, I decided I would run my tank as low as I safely could instead of draining a large amount.
I have a D180 with capacitive plates that were calibrated about 74 hours ago. I have noticed that my left tank was far more accurate than my right tank and it was also time to do another recalibration.
On the way back home last evening, I was about 4.5 miles from the airport and decided to do some steep turns. I was showing about 5 gallons in my right tank and I had 16 gal in my left tank. I?m into about 270 degrees of a steep left turn and then it happened. My engine started to quit.
I was a 1000 ft AGL, and immediately rolled the wings level and picked a field and went to 90 kts. After realizing what happened, I immediately went into my FMS checks (fuel, mixture, switches) switched the fuel to the left tank, boost pump on, mixture rich, and checked mags on both. The engine sputtered and the came roaring back.
I immediately climbed and turned toward the airport came in and landed.
Number of lessons learned here...
I check my fuel levels before flight visually and do not rely on my EFIS, but I did push my luck with the level being at 5 gallons showing on the EFIS when I knew it wasn?t as accurate as my left tank.
I should have flown back on the left tank instead of trying to maximize my fuel burn from the right tank and physically drain it instead of burning it.
I realized how important it is to know your emergency checks and to act quickly and calmly. I?m fortunate that I have the opportunity to practice emergencies during our checkouts every year with the flying outfit I?m with. I also do checkouts on our staff, which I think had prepared me a little more for what happened.
Over 30 years of flying, I have only ever lost a mag...this was the first time I ever had the ?oh ****? moment.
If you ever get yourself in an unnecessary bind like I did, which can totally be prevented, always go FMS..Fuel, mixture, switches...and fly the plane.
I?m not sharing my stumble to get flamed. I just want others to hopefully learn from what mistake I made.
I changed the fuel drain...some fuel lube got into the o ring and trapped some debris. And after draining the tank, I had about 5 oz left.....not 5 gallons....
Cheers,
Don
Last evening I went for a quick flight in my 8 from my local airport to a BBQ about a 25 minute flight away. Nice enjoyable flight with no issues.
I have noticed that my right fuel tank drain has had a slight drip coming from it and my plan was to replace it this week with a new one.
So, I decided I would run my tank as low as I safely could instead of draining a large amount.
I have a D180 with capacitive plates that were calibrated about 74 hours ago. I have noticed that my left tank was far more accurate than my right tank and it was also time to do another recalibration.
On the way back home last evening, I was about 4.5 miles from the airport and decided to do some steep turns. I was showing about 5 gallons in my right tank and I had 16 gal in my left tank. I?m into about 270 degrees of a steep left turn and then it happened. My engine started to quit.
I was a 1000 ft AGL, and immediately rolled the wings level and picked a field and went to 90 kts. After realizing what happened, I immediately went into my FMS checks (fuel, mixture, switches) switched the fuel to the left tank, boost pump on, mixture rich, and checked mags on both. The engine sputtered and the came roaring back.
I immediately climbed and turned toward the airport came in and landed.
Number of lessons learned here...
I check my fuel levels before flight visually and do not rely on my EFIS, but I did push my luck with the level being at 5 gallons showing on the EFIS when I knew it wasn?t as accurate as my left tank.
I should have flown back on the left tank instead of trying to maximize my fuel burn from the right tank and physically drain it instead of burning it.
I realized how important it is to know your emergency checks and to act quickly and calmly. I?m fortunate that I have the opportunity to practice emergencies during our checkouts every year with the flying outfit I?m with. I also do checkouts on our staff, which I think had prepared me a little more for what happened.
Over 30 years of flying, I have only ever lost a mag...this was the first time I ever had the ?oh ****? moment.
If you ever get yourself in an unnecessary bind like I did, which can totally be prevented, always go FMS..Fuel, mixture, switches...and fly the plane.
I?m not sharing my stumble to get flamed. I just want others to hopefully learn from what mistake I made.
I changed the fuel drain...some fuel lube got into the o ring and trapped some debris. And after draining the tank, I had about 5 oz left.....not 5 gallons....
Cheers,
Don