Originally Posted by
Centaurus
Reading the September 2015 issue of the US flight safety magazine "Aviation Safety" I saw a story where the pilot of a Cessna 140 had an engine failure at 50 feet on take off. The reason for the engine failure was extremely low fuel contents even though the gauges showed full.
Now here is the fascinating bit. There was insufficient runway to land ahead and beyond that was a river and houses. Certainly not the best area to force land. So the pilot gently shook the wings with aileron giving a momentary return of power and thus enough altitude allowing a 180 degree turn to a dead stick landing on the runway.
I have never heard of that technique before when waggling the wings may get some remaining fuel back to the engine.
Probably aircraft dependent. Without commenting on the need for a visual check on an aircraft like that, I suppose it is something one could keep in mind as a desperation thing to do if ever somehow in a similar situation.
Perhaps rudder input would work as well. I remember on the old Citabria that I used to fly long ago, I had a situation where the quantities were very low. However, with sideslip input, the quantity on one side increased significantly.