In Detention

I am a moderately experienced pilot, having amassed approximately 3500 hours over 30 years of flying. This occurrence is one Im not particularly proud of, but is instructive nonetheless. I was flying a PA-32-301T Saratoga to our home in Missoula, Mont. Fortunately I was alone; my wife might have decided right then and there to not fly with me in the future if she had been a passenger on this flight. I was over the valley, north of Bozeman. After reading a recent article in Aviation Safety discussing the pros and cons of the operation, I decided to run all the fuel from the right tank before switching to the left. As the last drops flowed from the right side, the engine coughed. I reached down and slammed the fuel selector to the left tank, hit the fuel pump and the engine died! I went through the emergence procedure by memory.

Key Takeaways:

• An experienced pilot inadvertently caused an engine failure by mistakenly placing the fuel selector in an "off" detent instead of the intended "left" tank position, after intentionally running the right fuel tank dry.
• The incident occurred while practicing a new fuel management technique in mountainous terrain, highlighting the risks of such experimentation and the importance of knowing aircraft-specific fuel selector quirks.
• Key takeaways include the importance of immediately re-evaluating the last action taken during an emergency and practicing new operational techniques only over friendly terrain or near suitable landing areas.

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