Years ago I had an engine failure after take-off in a Cherokee Six, fully laden
, and got it going again by immediately changing tanks. Pants also needed changing.:o The four tanks and a fuel selector valve and lever designed by Groucho Marx have probably claimed another aircraft.
I don't mean to pre-empt the investigation like this, but that system is just like so much complete bollocks. It is just too easy to think you have the, say, left main selected with the lever, but the valve may still be drawing from, say, the left tip. You have to positively ensure the lever is seated in the detent. A visual check isn't good enough.
My instructor would not let me fly solo in it unless I had passed an oral examination on the fuel system and its traps, including knowing the time it took for fuel to travel the lines from the tip tanks (14 seconds at full power to 35 seconds at approach power - I can still remember!). And when the failure occurred to me, you can guess what my instructor did ...
