The 500-hour pilot held a private license for aircraft single-engine land. He did not have an instrument rating, but had been receiving instruction toward one. The airplane was a J35 Bonanza, manufactured in 1958 and equipped with tip tanks that increased its fuel capacity to 100 gallons.
The pilot was solo when he left New Smyrna Beach, Florida, on a dark February evening for New Orleans, about 480 nm distant. This was a flight that he had practiced on his personal computer, according to his flight instructor, using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000. The instructor also reported a quirk of the airplane: On one flight, when the right tip tank was selected, the engine began to cough and lose power. Returning to the main tank restored smooth running. The instructor said that the pilot had had a mechanic “lubricate the fuel selector valve assembly,” after which “the fuel system operated normally.” No maintenance log entry was found to document this somewhat peculiar episode, and it is unclear what effect lubricating a selector valve would have on what sounds more like a vent obstruction or a clogged or leaking feed line.
