Enough to get your
heart pumping for sure. Been there {:>)
Early in my flying
days, I was in a similar type turn and was paying more attention to the
buildings I had my wing tip anchored to than I should have been. All of
a sudden, the engine started unwinding with a vengeance. I immediately
leveled the air plane, where upon the engine caught again – but I was down to
the last gallon or less – switched tanks and all was OK. I suspected
that perhaps my “coordinated” turn was not as coordinated as I had
thought.
Both of my pumps can
suck fuel from either tank, so can’t help you there. I personally do not
favor the one tank- one pump approach due to the fact if you did lose a pump –
you could possibly lose access to a lot (perhaps a tank) of fuel. No
problem flying locally perhaps, but a different story if between the west
coast and New Mexico {:>). But, I realize there are advantages such
as not needing a valve to switch tanks, but similar to having two CPUs for the
fuel injectors either one of which can run the full set of injectors, I prefer
both pumps having access to both tanks.
Also, just for the
heck of it you might check the tank for water. I flew into Shady Bend
one time with my left tank dry. Sat out through a few rain shows, took
off the next day and landed at Waycross, GA and filled the left tank and
topped of the right one. About 30 minutes out, I decided to switch to
the left tank, within seconds of switching the engine started surging.
Having learned my lesson about switching tanks on my 12 mile glide a few years
ago, I immediately switched back to the other tank and thankfully, everything
returned to normal. I flew a bit further and go over a suitable air
field and switched back to the left tank, again the surging – but I left it on
this time an in about 20-30 seconds the surge disappeared. I thought I might
have picked up some bad fuel – but not the case.
Yep, you got it –
should have drain the tanks for water, which I failed to do that
morning. I can’t prove it was water, but I did discover my left tank cap
was not sealing as it should and I suspect the empty tank accumulated a cup or
less of water. It settled to the bottom by the time I had flow 30
minutes and when I switched over all I got for the first 30 seconds or so was
watery fuel which the engine did not like.
So be careful –
Mike. But, then that is what this test phase is all about – find out
what might bite you while you are close to home.
From: Rotary
motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 9:49
PM
To: Rotary motors in
aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary]
fuel supply problem?
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.
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