A cessna 421's fuel system crossfeed valve failed internally. The fuel handle; switch and indicator ...

Narrative:

During climb through 9580 ft MSL. The right engine started surging violently; resembling fuel starvation. With fuel selectors in the proper main (tip) tank position/detent; the associated fuel gauge read full. I immediately reduced thrust and changed fuel tanks to the aux tank which had 25 gallons at takeoff twenty minutes prior. We elected to divert to a visible and close runway that was also long. After landing we realized the fuel handle and associated switching gauges and lights were showing the proper full fuel tanks (right main tip); but the right engine was actually being fed by the right aux-tank because of an internal-failure of the switch valve. This caused the fuel in the aux-tank to rapidly disappear because the main tip tank (which we showed as supplying fuel) was full and caused the excess fuel to be exited/dumped overboard depleting the aux-tank contents. After landing and during extended idle operation the right aux-tank ran totally dry.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Cessna 421's fuel system crossfeed valve failed internally. The fuel handle; switch and indicator light showed proper feed selection but the right engine was feeding from the right aux tank with the right tip tank selected.

Narrative: During climb through 9580 FT MSL. The right engine started surging violently; resembling fuel starvation. With fuel selectors in the proper main (tip) tank position/detent; the associated fuel gauge read full. I immediately reduced thrust and changed fuel tanks to the aux tank which had 25 gallons at takeoff twenty minutes prior. We elected to divert to a visible and close runway that was also long. After landing we realized the fuel handle and associated switching gauges and lights were showing the proper full fuel tanks (right main tip); but the right engine was actually being fed by the right aux-tank because of an internal-failure of the switch valve. This caused the fuel in the aux-tank to rapidly disappear because the main tip tank (which we showed as supplying fuel) was full and caused the excess fuel to be exited/dumped overboard depleting the aux-tank contents. After landing and during extended idle operation the right aux-tank ran totally dry.

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.

Attributes
ACN	868845
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Golden Eagle 421
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Crossfeed
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75 Flight Crew Total 23000 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A cessna 421's fuel system crossfeed valve failed internally. The fuel handle; switch and indicator light showed proper feed selection but the right engine was feeding from the right aux tank with the right tip tank selected.