A pilot flying a beech A36 closed the fuel tank selector valve in flight causing the engine to shutd...

Narrative:

Was cruising at 4;500 ft and switched tanks to even the fuel levels. After a few minutes; changed power settings and went to lean the engine to the new power setting. In the middle of the leaning process; the engine stumbled and quit. Since this was a break in flight on a new engine; I assumed that the stoppage had to do with the leaning. Called approach and asked for the nearest airport. Was pointed to an airport 3 plus miles away and turned toward it immediately. As I set up for a landing; moved fuel and prop forward; put on the boost pump and refined my approach. Landed on the runway and coasted to a taxiway and pulled off the active and held short of the parallel. Called approach on the phone and let them know that I was on the ground; ok; and proceeded to further troubleshoot. Found I had placed the fuel selector valve in the off position. [I] did not try to change tanks while focused on the airport. The prior number of weeks I had been flying a B36TC whose fuel selector is the exact opposite of the A36. Off is in the 4 o'clock position and the left is at 10 and the right at 2. In the A36; the off is at the 10; left is at 8 and right is at 4. I was aware of this and conscious of this before leaving the ground; but somehow turned the handle the wrong way any way. I feel that if the runway that I landed on was not available and easy to get to; I probably would have gotten to the fuel selector and continued to troubleshoot.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot flying a Beech A36 closed the fuel tank selector valve in flight causing the engine to shutdown because he had been flying the BE36TC; whose fuel selector is opposite the A36. An emergency was declared and the aircraft landed safely at a nearby field.

Narrative: Was cruising at 4;500 FT and switched tanks to even the fuel levels. After a few minutes; changed power settings and went to lean the engine to the new power setting. In the middle of the leaning process; the engine stumbled and quit. Since this was a break in flight on a new engine; I assumed that the stoppage had to do with the leaning. Called Approach and asked for the nearest airport. Was pointed to an airport 3 plus miles away and turned toward it immediately. As I set up for a landing; moved fuel and prop forward; put on the boost pump and refined my approach. Landed on the runway and coasted to a taxiway and pulled off the active and held short of the parallel. Called Approach on the phone and let them know that I was on the ground; OK; and proceeded to further troubleshoot. Found I had placed the fuel selector valve in the OFF position. [I] did not try to change tanks while focused on the airport. The prior number of weeks I had been flying a B36TC whose fuel selector is the exact opposite of the A36. OFF is in the 4 o'clock position and the left is at 10 and the right at 2. In the A36; the OFF is at the 10; left is at 8 and right is at 4. I was aware of this and conscious of this before leaving the ground; but somehow turned the handle the wrong way any way. I feel that if the runway that I landed on was not available and easy to get to; I probably would have gotten to the fuel selector and continued to troubleshoot.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	991437
Time
Date	201201
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	Bonanza 36
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Distribution System
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 31 Flight Crew Total 5800 Flight Crew Type 3800
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

A pilot flying a beech A36 closed the fuel tank selector valve in flight causing the engine to shutdown because he had been flying the BE36TC; whose fuel selector is opposite the A36. An emergency was declared and the aircraft landed safely at a nearby field.