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Mooney 20F flight instructor reported a loss of engine power and return to the field due to mismanagement of the fuel supply.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1550989 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201806 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | M-20 F Executive 21 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Engine |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Instructor |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80 Flight Crew Total 11030 Flight Crew Type 9215 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
While flying in the traffic pattern; after reaching pattern altitude and just turning downwind there was a partial engine failure. I immediately [advised ATC]; told the student that I had the airplane; and based on our position I proceeded to head directly for the airport and successfully made a downwind landing. The engine then quit on the taxiway; but we were able to get it started. It ran rough again and we shut it down. We were subsequently towed to transient parking.inspection of the right fuel tank showed no apparent fuel; although the fuel gauge showed half full. We switched tanks and the engine started. I switched back to the right tank and the engine ran briefly and then sputtered. I again switched tanks and after a few seconds the engine ran smoothly again. We taxied to the fuel island where we put 31.9 gallons into the 32 gallon right tank.this was the first day of transition training. I asked the student if he had topped the tanks. He said he hadn't but that there was 54 gallons of 64 total gallons possible on board. I accepted that and didn't check the tanks myself. I later found out that the plane had been flown to and from having some new avionics installed; apparently on the right tank. The student figured it was less than an hour total. We did air work at low power setting and then proceeded to start landing practice on that tank; also at low power settings. I thought there was plenty of fuel in the right tank. The fuel gauges showed equal amounts of fuel in each tank. There wasn't.in hindsight I should have specifically inspected the fuel levels before the flight and not made assumptions as to the state of the fuel in each tank. Fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate. I should have immediately switched tanks as a memory item after engine malfunction; and then proceeded to make the landing.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Mooney 20F flight instructor reported a loss of engine power and return to the field due to mismanagement of the fuel supply.
Narrative: While flying in the traffic pattern; after reaching pattern altitude and just turning downwind there was a partial engine failure. I immediately [advised ATC]; told the student that I had the airplane; and based on our position I proceeded to head directly for the airport and successfully made a downwind landing. The engine then quit on the taxiway; but we were able to get it started. It ran rough again and we shut it down. We were subsequently towed to transient parking.Inspection of the right fuel tank showed no apparent fuel; although the fuel gauge showed half full. We switched tanks and the engine started. I switched back to the right tank and the engine ran briefly and then sputtered. I again switched tanks and after a few seconds the engine ran smoothly again. We taxied to the fuel island where we put 31.9 gallons into the 32 gallon right tank.This was the first day of transition training. I asked the student if he had topped the tanks. He said he hadn't but that there was 54 gallons of 64 total gallons possible on board. I accepted that and didn't check the tanks myself. I later found out that the plane had been flown to and from having some new avionics installed; apparently on the right tank. The student figured it was less than an hour total. We did air work at low power setting and then proceeded to start landing practice on that tank; also at low power settings. I thought there was plenty of fuel in the right tank. The fuel gauges showed equal amounts of fuel in each tank. There wasn't.In hindsight I should have specifically inspected the fuel levels before the flight and not made assumptions as to the state of the fuel in each tank. Fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate. I should have immediately switched tanks as a memory item after engine malfunction; and then proceeded to make the landing.
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.