Originally Posted by
First_Principal
From this somehow people have arrived at a fuel issue associated with a failed tank change. Now while that's entirely possible of course it does seem a somewhat premature conclusion to come to based on the incredibly sparse information that appears presently available. It ignores such other possibilities such as carb icing (yes, it can happen in summer!) particularly given he was on final with reduced throttle and could have forgotten carb heat, an engine control manipulation mistake (leaned the mixture out instead of altering the throttle), catastrophic engine or associated component failure (yes, it certainly can occur under light load), electrical failure etc.
I can't speak for anyone else other than to say that Warriors are extremely robust training aircraft, designed such that there is very, very little that can go wrong. Aside from mechanical failure, spark, fuel and no carb ice are really all you need to keep that prop turning. It is not easy to accidently or otherwise lose spark and since there were no reports of the engine sounding off and carb ice isn't something that happens without warning (rough running), the most obvious cause is a fuel issue of some kind - especially since operator error can cause the exact scenario played out here.
I too
have heard of students moving fuel selectors to off on downwind instead of changing tanks. Since it isn't easy to see the fuel selector when sitting in the left seat and must operate by feel alone, it's an easy thing for a rookie to do... but all of the Warrior IIIs I've flown have had the updated selectors fitted where you need to hold down a button to move it to the 'off' position and I expect this one did too. That's why I believe the only other fuel stuff-up you can make (aside from pulling the mixture for some reason) is to not swing the selector fully across. If you do this, nothing will happen for at least 10-15 seconds (especially at low throttle), giving you plenty of time to turn final before the engine goes silent.
43 Inches: Aside from
the battery relocated to the engine bay and updated fuel selector, Warrior III's have the same O-320 engine and carby, more modern flat-panel (not the plastic 3D look) dash with a choice of steam or Avidyne glass, updated nav lights and slightly heavier BEW for the same Balance.
Of course, if you ran completely dry on one tank and unported in either base or final turn, you'd also get no warning until short final.
Originally Posted by
First_Principal
Whatever the reason I hope the pilot continues on to have a long flying career, and that this simply becomes a colourful story of the past he can tell his as-yet unborn child about some time in the future.
Amen!