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Was out boring holes in the sky today trying to
accumulate hours - finally a day off with no rain. About 2 hours into the
flight, running on the left tank, and making a gentle left turn (maybe 20 - 30
degrees of bank), and the engine lost power. About 2 seconds later the engine
monitor alarmed that the fuel pressure was below limits. By the time the alarm
sounded I had already switched tanks and power was coming back up. My airplane
is set up with 1 pump for each tank, so switching tanks actually means switching
pumps too.
Needless to say I returned home immediately on the right
tank and the airplane ran OK all the way back. Once on the ground I did a full
power runup switching tanks repeatedly and everything was fine. I'm not certain
how much fuel is in the left tank, I'm guessing about 5 gallons. I'll find
out tomorrow when I top off the tanks.
The only thing I can guess is maybe the fuel in the tank
drained away from the pickup in the turn? The turn was coordinated so in theory
the pickup should have remained submerged. I might have to re-think the fuel
system.
Mike Wills
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