SMT PLT HAS ENG QUIT ON INITIAL CLB. RETURNS TO ARPT.

Narrative

ON THIS DAY I HAD FLOWN TEB-FMG-TEB-BADER FIELD. BEFORE LEAVING BADER I NOTICED AN APPARENT FUEL IMBAL BTWN THE L AND R MAIN FUEL TANK INDICATIONS (QUANTITY). L INDICATED OVER 30 GALLONS; R A BIT OVER 10 GALLONS. PUT 20 GALLONS IN R TANK. TOOK OFF TO RETURN TO TEB. DURING CLB THROUGH 1500 FT; THE L ENG QUIT. I ATTEMPTED A RESTART TO NO AVAIL. I FEATHERED THE ENG AND BARELY MADE IT BACK TO BADER. LATER EXAMINATION AND ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT THE L MAIN TANK WAS DRY. FUEL QUANTITY INDICATORS WERE OUT OF CALIBRATION EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD RECENTLY BEEN RECALIBRATED. NONETHELESS; I SHOULD HAVE REALIZED THAT: 1) HAD THERE BEEN AN IMBAL; AIRPLANE WOULD HAVE FLOWN WING HVY BUT DIDN'T. 2) I HAD BEEN FLYING FOR 3 HRS AND COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE THAT MUCH FUEL LEFT IN THE L TANK. 3) NEVER SWITCHED FROM L MAIN TO AUX OR XFEED WHERE FUEL WAS AVAILABLE. 4) NEVER REALLY HAD A PROB. THIS WAS A MAJOR LEAGUE FOUL UP ON MY PART BECAUSE I TRUSTED THE FUEL QUANTITY GAUGES AND NOT MY COMMON SENSE. FROM NOW ON I WILL 'FLY THE CLOCK' AND MONITOR FUEL CONSUMPTION ACCORDINGLY; VISUALLY CHK FUEL QUANTITY; LEARN ABOUT THE FUEL SYS IN MY AIRPLANE AND PROPER FUEL MGMNT PROCS; THINK ABOUT THE PROB BEFORE ACTING; USE MY CHKLISTS. DON'T CREATE A BIGGER PROB THAN ALREADY EXISTS.