Narrative:

I was working in my hangar at ZZZ when I was requested to fly as an instructor with 2 pilot candidates for jump pilot with [skydive company]; which is located on the airport. The airplane in use was a C-182 which was actively flying skydivers that day. It had flown 12 loads; and I instructed the first pilot in command to do the preflight while I oversaw the installation of the second seat and yoke; and got my headset and gear. When I came back to the airplane; the pilot indicated we were ready for takeoff; and we did so. At approximately 2;000 feet in the climbout; I looked down at the fuel switch (this was my first idle time; as I was observing his procedures on the climb-out). The C-182 has a 4 position switch; back is off; to the sides left and right; and forward both tanks. I was wearing sunglasses for the first time in years; but they do not have near vision bifocals; which is why I never wear them. This time I had decided to protect my eyes and try the sunglasses; as the westerly sun was very bright. Rather than switch glasses; I asked the pilot to look down and confirm for me that the fuel switch was on both. He did so. The position looked odd to me; but I figured that we had climbed to over 2;000 feet and the engine was running normally; so I disregarded my gut feelings and proceeded with the task at hand. We flew a routine for about 40 minutes; returned to the field; landed. The second pilot came out; did his preflight while I discussed the previous flight with 1st pilot; and the skydive operator. The second pilot and I took off without incident climbed to 3K altitude; and proceeded north of the airport. I had the pilot doing steep turns; and when he rolled out of the turn to the left; the engine suddenly quit. We immediately set up a best rate of glide; checked the mags; mixture; I pushed the prime switch to no avail; checked carb with no response. By this time; we had descended; and I started to look for a field. We were nearly directly over [name] private airstrip. We frequently fly in here; and I was familiar with the field. I broadcast on the common frequency for ZZZ; [frequency]; that we were making an emergency landing in [name's] field. Things were happening pretty fast; so we ceased attempting to solve the problem; and concentrated on the landing. I told the pilot to give me the airplane; I was familiar with the field (there is a power line crossing the field app 2/3rds of the way down) and I proceeded to make a landing. I felt this was the best procedure as there was little time to discuss the situation. We landed; and I stepped out of the aircraft; put on my near vision glasses; and checked the fuel switch position. It was off. I selected both tanks on the selector; the engine started; did an engine check; everything was normal; and we took off and returned to ZZZ without incident. I told the jump pilot; who had been flying the airplane all day that the switch was off. He said 'oh; yeah. We've been doing that for a couple of weeks now.' 'we' is he as he was the only pilot at the time. 'I asked him why he would do that; and he told me that he did it to keep the fuel from moving from one tank to the other. This would have been ineffective; as the off position only cuts off fuel to the engine. I told him that a better method would be to select either tank to accomplish this; but turning off the fuel switch was a bad idea. The operators and I handled this in-house by a discussion with those involved; which was an appropriate response to the situation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 182 instructor and student pilot reported a loss of engine power due to fuel mismanagement; necessitating a power off forced landing on a nearby airstrip.

Narrative: I was working in my hangar at ZZZ when I was requested to fly as an instructor with 2 pilot candidates for jump pilot with [skydive company]; which is located on the airport. The airplane in use was a C-182 which was actively flying skydivers that day. It had flown 12 loads; and I instructed the first pilot in command to do the preflight while I oversaw the installation of the second seat and yoke; and got my headset and gear. When I came back to the airplane; the pilot indicated we were ready for takeoff; and we did so. At approximately 2;000 feet in the climbout; I looked down at the fuel switch (this was my first idle time; as I was observing his procedures on the climb-out). The C-182 has a 4 position switch; back is off; to the sides left and right; and forward both tanks. I was wearing sunglasses for the first time in years; but they do not have near vision bifocals; which is why I never wear them. This time I had decided to protect my eyes and try the sunglasses; as the westerly sun was very bright. Rather than switch glasses; I asked the pilot to look down and confirm for me that the fuel switch was on both. He did so. The position looked odd to me; but I figured that we had climbed to over 2;000 feet and the engine was running normally; so I disregarded my gut feelings and proceeded with the task at hand. We flew a routine for about 40 minutes; returned to the field; landed. The second pilot came out; did his preflight while I discussed the previous flight with 1st pilot; and the skydive operator. The second pilot and I took off without incident climbed to 3K altitude; and proceeded north of the airport. I had the pilot doing steep turns; and when he rolled out of the turn to the left; the engine suddenly quit. We immediately set up a best rate of glide; checked the mags; mixture; I pushed the prime switch to no avail; checked carb with no response. By this time; we had descended; and I started to look for a field. We were nearly directly over [name] private airstrip. We frequently fly in here; and I was familiar with the field. I broadcast on the common frequency for ZZZ; [frequency]; that we were making an emergency landing in [name's] field. Things were happening pretty fast; so we ceased attempting to solve the problem; and concentrated on the landing. I told the pilot to give me the airplane; I was familiar with the field (there is a power line crossing the field app 2/3rds of the way down) and I proceeded to make a landing. I felt this was the best procedure as there was little time to discuss the situation. We landed; and I stepped out of the aircraft; put on my near vision glasses; and checked the fuel switch position. It was off. I selected both tanks on the selector; the engine started; did an engine check; everything was normal; and we took off and returned to ZZZ without incident. I told the jump pilot; who had been flying the airplane all day that the switch was off. He said 'Oh; yeah. We've been doing that for a couple of weeks now.' 'We' is he as he was the only pilot at the time. 'I asked him why he would do that; and he told me that he did it to keep the fuel from moving from one tank to the other. This would have been ineffective; as the off position only cuts off fuel to the engine. I told him that a better method would be to select either tank to accomplish this; but turning off the fuel switch was a bad idea. The operators and I handled this in-house by a discussion with those involved; which was an appropriate response to the situation.

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.