Somewhat exciting flight from Santa Barbara back to Chandler today. My son and I were flying the club Debonair which has Osborne tip tanks. I had never used them before so we put 10 gallons in each tip for testing,
When we were east of TNP (Twenty Nine Palms) vortac at 11,500’, I went to shift to the left tip tank. Suddenly RPMs drop and we begin losing speed. My son gets the checklist and finds the nearest airport, which is about 10 miles ahead. This ship has about a 9 to one glide ratio so we figure we will make it with some room to spare, especially with the tailwind. I turn to the airport and we start running the checklist.
Fuel to fullest main tank, fuel pump on, mixture full rich, throttle forward, magnetos to both. Hmm… prop is windmilling but no start. Run through the checklist again. Still no start. This starts to feel a bit nerve wracking given there is a small set of mountains between us and the airport and we are sinking at 1000 fpm. Especially compared to a glider where one expects more like 200 fpm down at best glide.
What to do? I recheck the heading and best glide speed. My son looks carefully at the checklist again and notices a nearly last item - mixture as needed. Then we realize it is perhaps over-rich at this altitude. I pull out the mixture and get a surge of power. What a relief!
We climb up and get over the field then start a little trouble shooting. It seems that when you move the fuel selector sometimes it may not be set fully on the detent.
Lessons -
Problems with the fuel selector are a common cause of fuel starvation.
Keep working the checklist so long as you have the altitude to ensure you have every item correct.
And for me, I think I will stay even closer to an airfield when shifting the fuel selector.
This was my first unexpected engine stop in flight. I had practiced exactly this over an airport in the Cardinal last year.
When we were east of TNP (Twenty Nine Palms) vortac at 11,500’, I went to shift to the left tip tank. Suddenly RPMs drop and we begin losing speed. My son gets the checklist and finds the nearest airport, which is about 10 miles ahead. This ship has about a 9 to one glide ratio so we figure we will make it with some room to spare, especially with the tailwind. I turn to the airport and we start running the checklist.
Fuel to fullest main tank, fuel pump on, mixture full rich, throttle forward, magnetos to both. Hmm… prop is windmilling but no start. Run through the checklist again. Still no start. This starts to feel a bit nerve wracking given there is a small set of mountains between us and the airport and we are sinking at 1000 fpm. Especially compared to a glider where one expects more like 200 fpm down at best glide.
What to do? I recheck the heading and best glide speed. My son looks carefully at the checklist again and notices a nearly last item - mixture as needed. Then we realize it is perhaps over-rich at this altitude. I pull out the mixture and get a surge of power. What a relief!
We climb up and get over the field then start a little trouble shooting. It seems that when you move the fuel selector sometimes it may not be set fully on the detent.
Lessons -
Problems with the fuel selector are a common cause of fuel starvation.
Keep working the checklist so long as you have the altitude to ensure you have every item correct.
And for me, I think I will stay even closer to an airfield when shifting the fuel selector.
This was my first unexpected engine stop in flight. I had practiced exactly this over an airport in the Cardinal last year.
