2025-05 · NASA ASRS report 2247285
PA-23 instructor pilot and trainee reported an engine failure in the traffic pattern. They were able to re-start the engine after switching fuel tanks; and received a low altitude alert from ATC during the trouble-shooting.
A CMEL (Commercial Multi Engine Land) rated student and I planned a IFR XC flight to ZZZ1. Topped all fuel tanks and confirmed prior to departure from ZZZ. Light winds at altitude and we were planning for about 3.4 air time to ZZZ1. About 110 gallons (rounded up) fuel burn there and back. Planned for 140-110=30 gallons of fuel landing back at ZZZ. Which is roughly an hour of reserve.On the flight to ZZZ1 we stayed on outboards the whole flight (while monitoring fuel gauges). Landed uneventfully there and on the ground fuel gauges read a little above 1/4 tank. Took off back from ZZZ1 heading to ZZZ planning to use inboard fuel tanks the entire flight. Everything all looked good; started our descent into ZZZ. I ran descent checklist. Fuel quantity on the left inboard tank started to read lower maybe around a 1/4ish? I cant truly remember but I think I switched the left engines tank from inboard to outboard. I'm 100% positive I wouldn't have done this just because. So there was a reason; I'm assuming in my head I thought that the outboards had more fuel than our inboard. When I switched; I confirmed the quantity on that outboard. When I switched to it and I remember being pleasantly surprised because it read closer to 1/2 than 1/4. Yes I should have known that they probably read the most accurate on the ground at ZZZ1. Still coming down into ZZZ. We got into IMC; leveled off 3;000. Requested RNAV XX. I was pilot monitoring; student was flying. ATC gave us direct IAF at ZZZ. As we started a left turn (probably that outboard tank sucking air because the min fuel left in there is now far from the pickup); we both felt a very pronounced yaw. The yaw felt just like when you shut a fuel selector off on purpose for training.At this point we both announced engine failure. Student kept flying as I talked her through the immediate action items. Certainly some startle factor and being in hard IMC made this part not slow but not as fast as when we know it's coming. Along with the yaw was also a whipping sound towards left shoulder of my student on the outside of the plane. Think of someone constantly whipping the fuselage. Sounded like a Cessna when you taxi with the door open and the seat belt bangs around.This was a very heavy workload spot for an engine failure already. Being IMC; low-ish altitude; and literally intercepting an approach. We finished the rest of the action items and since above 1k AGL I started the restart flow items. We were mid left turn when it failed so we were mainly just maintaining heading less flying needles; we blew through the approach just a little bit. At the same time our altitude started to go a few hundred feet below what ATC assigned us. Approach kept issuing different calls to us because of altitude. At this time I knew we had the plane under control and could fly because I had completed initial action items. I decided to [request priority handling] with Approach. Their tone became much more friendly about our deviations.Didn't do much talking to them because we still had to run restart flow. Ran that and when I got to fuel selector; I changed the left engines fuel selector to the inboard; then the engine came back alive.We continued with the approach relatively uneventful. It was a little unstable just because of the huge power changes.After landing:Upon landing called Approach on phone to tell them we were safe.After getting out and inspecting plane... the whipping was a little rubber seal that just came half off and was hitting the fuselage. Bad timing because that was throwing me off of fuel starvation. Thought maybe we hit something. Fuel tanks definitely looked low. We decided to fuel the plane to see how much fuel there was in the plane. These were the amounts the fuel truck put in. Left outboard-33gal Left inboard-27gal Right outboard-29gal Right inboard- 26galTotal burn -116 galSo as you can see we ran on that left outboard way lower than we should have. Fuelburn was a little more than planned and that's because we were leaning to 1400 EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature). We were cruising at 6k and 7k so probably should have leaned more at that altitude. I think the biggest thing for me as an MEI (Multi Engine Instructor) going forward is to keep track of how long I burn on each tank on each side. I didn't put enough respect on wanting to do a long flight without thinking harder about fuel planning in regard to each tank. Adding in more of a total fuel reserve is also a good idea. I don't plan on a single tank longer than 1.5 for XC ops.Another thing; Make notes of fuel gauges when on ground and doing a quick turn like that. Fuel didn't magically spawn into that outboard tank when the gauge read slightly higher on the descent into ZZZ than it did on the ground at ZZZ1. Don't trust fuel gauges on old planes with your life anyways. Trust fuel planning.I also could have just filled up at ZZZ2 as well. There was zero external pressure to push it. Nothing to get back for; no lesson to complete. In my head I just thought; well we made it one way using just the outboard; we can make it back on just the inboard. And honestly we probably could have because we had a little tailwind coming home. Gauges threw me for a loop and I fell for them. A lot of this; even for me; looking back is hindsight is 20/20. Very easy to see where things could have been done differently for a better outcome. 140-116=24 gallons of fuel still on board. Just not very balanced in its respective tank.I am grateful to be able to only have to face any consequences while the plane and I are in still in good shape. I would say I am IFR and single engine ops proficient. If I was solo; that would have been incredibly challenging. If I was not proficient at either of those things; also could have been a different outcome. I'm sure my CMEL rated student feels the same. The helmet fire and lizard brain was real; just had to remember to keep flying and practice engine failures very often. Good story to tell my future students what not to do and I'm very glad that's all it is.
In IMC; turning final for RNAV XX at ZZZ experienced left engine surge and sputter. Along with it was a loud clanking noise. Ran through single engine approach procedures; [requested priority handling] with ATC. I was pilot flying and had an MEI (Multi Engine Instructor) onboard who was pilot monitoring; running checklists; and communicating with ATC. Swapped left engine fuel tank from left outboard to left inboard and got engine power back. Proceeded inbound and completed approach for normal landing. Initial fuel planning for flight accounted for plenty of reserve however improper leaning procedures at high altitudes may have been the contributing factor to temporary fuel starvation on the left engine. There was plenty of reserve fuel on board however it was spread throughout 4 tanks. Clanking noise ended up being a rubber sealant on outside of aircraft between wing and fuselage that came loose coincidentally at the same time of engine power loss. I think the incident was handled well and moving forward I will plan reserve fuel differently accounting for a greater reserve in every fuel tank just not total number.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.