A flight instructor reported his instrument student moved the fuel tank selector to the off position...

Attributes
ACN	1426762
Time
Date	201702
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cheetah Tiger Traveler AA5 Series
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 135 Flight Crew Total 797 Flight Crew Type 362
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

While on the inbound leg of the procedure turn for the VOR-B practice approach; a fuel imbalance was noted. The instructor made the decision to switch fuel tanks; and notified the student that this should be done. This action was not observed due to scanning outside for traffic as the student was under the foggles. After approximately 30 seconds; the engine failed due to fuel starvation; as the fuel selector was placed into the off position inadvertently by the student who was task saturated and had initially trained on a 172; where tank imbalances were rarely a problem. After unpowered flight for approximately 30 seconds; the instructor realized the problem; and put the fuel selector onto the left tank. Afterwards; the aircraft was then flown to it's home airport after an assessment of the situation revealed no further issues with the engine.this could have been prevented in a number of ways; namely that the fuel tank switch should have been observed by the instructor; the student should have been briefed on this topic specifically; and the tank switch could have been done in a non-critical phase of flight. These items should be at least brought up in future instructor training; as it could easily happen across aircraft types; and can lead to significant issues.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Instructor reported his instrument student moved the fuel tank selector to the OFF position while attempting to change engine fuel sources. The Instructor determined the engine failure cause and restarted the engine.

Narrative: While on the inbound leg of the procedure turn for the VOR-B Practice approach; a fuel imbalance was noted. The instructor made the decision to switch fuel tanks; and notified the student that this should be done. This action was not observed due to scanning outside for traffic as the student was under the foggles. After approximately 30 seconds; the engine failed due to fuel starvation; as the fuel selector was placed into the off position inadvertently by the student who was task saturated and had initially trained on a 172; where tank imbalances were rarely a problem. After unpowered flight for approximately 30 seconds; the instructor realized the problem; and put the fuel selector onto the left tank. Afterwards; the aircraft was then flown to it's home airport after an assessment of the situation revealed no further issues with the engine.This could have been prevented in a number of ways; namely that the fuel tank switch should have been observed by the instructor; the student should have been briefed on this topic specifically; and the tank switch could have been done in a non-critical phase of flight. These items should be at least brought up in future instructor training; as it could easily happen across aircraft types; and can lead to significant issues.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A flight instructor reported his instrument student moved the fuel tank selector to the off position while attempting to change engine fuel sources. The instructor determined the engine failure cause and restarted the engine.