Narrative:

November 2009 while on visual approach to my home base (and in contact with approach) at an estimated 1500 ft AGL; and within a few miles of the airport I experienced complete loss of power in my comanche. I pulled the prop back to increase glide distance and pulled out carburetor heat; checked the mixture (it was full rich); and turned the electric fuel pump on. With the prop windmilling (and with some on-off return of power while all of this was going on) I initially thought I would be able to make a power-off landing to airport (runway xxr was the active for me...I was aiming for runway xyl; the nearest point) but fairly quickly saw that I didn't have enough height. I more or less simultaneously tried to contact approach (a number of times) and declared an emergency although I am not sure if they ever heard me as a normal conversation never occurred. In fact; for a very short while I wondered if there was an electrical problem but that didn't make any sense (more on that later). I did try both mags as well. I finally (seemed like an eternity) got around to switching the tanks (from the right tank to the left) and the engine quickly started up and ran normally. At this point in time I felt it would be best to get on terra firma as soon as possible and chose to not get in the pattern and land on runway xxr. I noticed a number of what looked like airport safety-type vehicles near the runway and don't see any traffic. I landed on runway xyl without further incident. After landing and putting the plane to rest at my FBO I looked in the right tank and saw no fuel. Even though I clearly had exhausted the fuel in the right tank I was still surprised. I haven't even run that tank for two hours on my timer (though it has to be close). I knew that because I used the fuel timer function on my garmin 496 and when I started out I went the first hour on my right tank and changed at the 1 hour mark to the left and changed back to the right at hour two. As I noted I hadn't come to the three hour mark yet and have flown a number of trips that lasted well above three hours without any fuel problems. Then I began to realize that there were several things that I didn't take into consideration or should have done to have avoided this situation. For starters although I checked my (full) tanks before leaving on the first leg of the day; I didn't look at the levels before leaving my first destination. I was in a hurry to get going as we left (the earlier 1st leg) about three hours later than I had originally planned because I had a nick in the prop that I got looked at and fixed at the departure airport that morning. I assumed that with a three hour flight and the engine leaning that the 37 gallons that were put in the tanks at the initial departure had left the tanks both full. More importantly (I believe) on the second leg I was running the engine at about 75% power and didn't lean it at all. That is unusual for me as I almost always lean the engine fairly aggressively as I usually run it at about 65% power in cruise. I wanted to try to gain sometime against the fairly strong crosswinds that we were experiencing. I am sure my fuel burn went up significantly. In addition I didn't calculate my extra fuel burn getting to altitude. Also; another thing that I didn't do was to go to my fullest tank when I began the approach to the airport. This is something that my instructors and fellow pilots always do when they are with me (and I usually do this myself as well). I don't' plan on ignoring to do that anytime soon. Another thing I should have done or at least done earlier when the engine began to sputter was to switch the tanks sooner. That could have and should have been done almost immediately. With that said I should note that I am glad that before this long trip (from the virginia area down to texas; and back) I had a chance to look at the newest comanche 180 manual (put out by the international comanche society) and that I went over the emergency section several times. I am also glad that I automatically went into the 'aviate' mode immediately and kept the plane gliding at about 100 plus mph even though I was mighty tempted to keep pulling back on the yoke as it became apparent that we couldn't glide to the airport; flying gliders in the past helped this. In terms of 'navigate' I didn't have to do much. In terms of 'communicate' I had a problem...with my push to talk switch. In the 16 hours I flew down from virginia to texas and four days later back up; I was in contact with ATC either on an IFR plan or VFR with flights following and didn't seem to have a problem with the ptt (push to talk button). On the initial legs home I seemed to have some problem and had to push on the left side the ptt and pushed harder than usual. I didn't notice anything wrong on the final leg. The ptt is being replaced.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA24 pilot described the events leading up to his aircraft's engine stopping because of fuel starvation. The selected fuel tank ran dry but after changing tanks the engine began running and he landed uneventfully.

Narrative: November 2009 while on visual approach to my home base (and in contact with Approach) at an estimated 1500 FT AGL; and within a few miles of the airport I experienced complete loss of power in my Comanche. I pulled the prop back to increase glide distance and pulled out carburetor heat; checked the mixture (it was full rich); and turned the electric fuel pump on. With the prop windmilling (and with some on-off return of power while all of this was going on) I initially thought I would be able to make a power-off landing to airport (Runway XXR was the active for me...I was aiming for Runway XYL; the nearest point) but fairly quickly saw that I didn't have enough height. I more or less simultaneously tried to contact Approach (a number of times) and declared an emergency although I am not sure if they ever heard me as a normal conversation never occurred. In fact; for a very short while I wondered if there was an electrical problem but that didn't make any sense (more on that later). I did try both MAGS as well. I finally (seemed like an eternity) got around to switching the tanks (from the right tank to the left) and the engine quickly started up and ran normally. At this point in time I felt it would be best to get on Terra Firma ASAP and chose to not get in the pattern and land on Runway XXR. I noticed a number of what looked like airport safety-type vehicles near the runway and don't see any traffic. I landed on Runway XYL without further incident. After landing and putting the plane to rest at my FBO I looked in the right tank and saw no fuel. Even though I clearly had exhausted the fuel in the right tank I was still surprised. I haven't even run that tank for two hours on my timer (though it has to be close). I knew that because I used the fuel timer function on my Garmin 496 and when I started out I went the first hour on my right tank and changed at the 1 hour mark to the left and changed back to the right at hour two. As I noted I hadn't come to the three hour mark yet and have flown a number of trips that lasted well above three hours without any fuel problems. Then I began to realize that there were several things that I didn't take into consideration or should have done to have avoided this situation. For starters although I checked my (full) tanks before leaving on the first leg of the day; I didn't look at the levels before leaving my first destination. I was in a hurry to get going as we left (the earlier 1st leg) about three hours later than I had originally planned because I had a nick in the prop that I got looked at and fixed at the departure airport that morning. I assumed that with a three hour flight and the engine leaning that the 37 gallons that were put in the tanks at the initial departure had left the tanks both full. More importantly (I believe) on the second leg I was running the engine at about 75% power and didn't lean it at all. That is unusual for me as I almost always lean the engine fairly aggressively as I usually run it at about 65% power in cruise. I wanted to try to gain sometime against the fairly strong crosswinds that we were experiencing. I am sure my fuel burn went up significantly. In addition I didn't calculate my extra fuel burn getting to altitude. Also; another thing that I didn't do was to go to my fullest tank when I began the approach to the airport. This is something that my instructors and fellow pilots always do when they are with me (and I usually do this myself as well). I don't' plan on ignoring to do that anytime soon. Another thing I should have done or at least done earlier when the engine began to sputter was to switch the tanks sooner. That could have and should have been done almost immediately. With that said I should note that I am glad that before this long trip (from the Virginia area down to Texas; and back) I had a chance to look at the newest Comanche 180 manual (put out by the International Comanche Society) and that I went over the emergency section several times. I am also glad that I automatically went into the 'Aviate' mode immediately and kept the plane gliding at about 100 plus MPH even though I was mighty tempted to keep pulling back on the yoke as it became apparent that we couldn't glide to the airport; flying gliders in the past helped this. In terms of 'Navigate' I didn't have to do much. In terms of 'Communicate' I had a problem...with my push to talk switch. In the 16 hours I flew down from Virginia to Texas and four days later back up; I was in contact with ATC either on an IFR plan or VFR with flights following and didn't seem to have a problem with the PTT (push to talk button). On the initial legs home I seemed to have some problem and had to push on the left side the PTT and pushed harder than usual. I didn't notice anything wrong on the final Leg. The PTT is being replaced.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.