Incident Overview
A Cessna 337 aircraft, operated by an instructor pilot and a student, experienced a forced landing after fuel exhaustion during a training flight. The aircraft came to rest in a field of corn adjacent to the airport.
Sequence of Events
The flight involved practicing takeoffs and landings. During a previous simulated engine-out approach, the fuel system was not reconfigured. As a result, both engines were being fed from a single fuel tank. Shortly after the final takeoff of the session, the fuel in the selected tank was exhausted. Although the fuel selector was then repositioned, power could not be regained in time to avoid a forced landing.
Probable Cause
The instructor pilot and student did not realize that they had not reconfigured the fuel system after the last simulated engine-out approach, which resulted in both engines feeding from one tank and subsequent fuel exhaustion.