A CPR C310 PLT ON AN IFR XCOUNTRY FLT STARTS LOSING FUEL PRESSURE ON THE R ENG AND FINALLY DECIDES TO SHUT IT DOWN. HE ALSO DECIDES; BECAUSE OF WX CONSIDERATIONS; TO CONTINUE TO HIS DEST RATHER THAN LAND AT A NEARER ARPT.

Narrative

ON JUN/XA/97; I CONDUCTED AN IFR FLT IN A C310 FROM ADS DIRECT MQP DIRECT SJT WITH AN ALTERNATE FILED TO MAF. ACTUAL DEP TIME WAS APPROX XD15 LCL TIME. THE FLT WAS ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO DEPART AT XA00; BUT WAS POSTPONED DUE TO SEVERE WX ALONG THE RTE AND IFR CONDITIONS. AT THE TIME OF DEP; WX CONDITIONS IN THE DALLAS AREA WERE RPTED VFR. AT THE DEST; THE WX WAS MARGINAL VFR/IFR WITH A RAPID IMPROVING TREND. AT ABILENE; THE WX WAS STILL IFR DUE TO A LOW TEMP/DEWPOINT SPREAD. AT APPROX 100 NM FROM SJT; I EXPERIENCED A DECREASE IN FUEL PRESSURE ON THE R ENG WHICH RESULTED IN A PARTIAL LOSS IN PWR. AT THIS TIME; I BEGAN TO ANALYZE THE PROB. I TURNED THE AUX FUEL PUMP TO THE LOW SETTING WHICH RESULTED IN NO CHANGE OF PERFORMANCE. I THEN TURNED THE AUX FUEL PUMP TO THE HIGH SETTING WHICH RESULTED IN AN IMPROVEMENT OF ENG PERFORMANCE; BUT THIS STILL DID NOT COMPLETELY SOLVE THE PROB. THE PROB WAS RPTED TO ZFW. I HAD SUSPECTED A POSSIBLE FUEL PUMP FAILURE OR A RESTRICTION IN THE FUEL SYS. AT THIS TIME; SERIOUS CONSIDERATION WAS GIVEN TO TERMINATING THE FLT AS PLANNED AND LNDG AT A NEARBY ARPT. AS I WAS ANALYZING THE WX IN THE AREA AND ALONG THE REMAINDER OF THE RTE; THE ENG DECAYED TO THE POINT WHERE I DECIDED THAT A PRECAUTIONARY SHUTDOWN OF THE R ENG WAS APPROPRIATE. AT THIS TIME; I WAS APPROX 65-70 NM FROM SAN ANGELO. THE ARPTS WITH IAP'S ALONG THE RTE WERE RPTING IFR. SJT WAS RPTING VFR. THE DECISION WAS MADE TO CONTINUE THE FLT TO SJT WHICH WAS RPTING VFR INSTEAD OF LNDG AT BWD WHICH WAS 25 MI TO THE ESE OF MY POS AND ABI WHICH WAS 40 MI TO THE NE OF MY POS. BOTH OF THESE ALTERNATIVE ARPTS WERE IFR. BWD WAS A SECOND ALTERNATIVE DUE TO IFR CONDITIONS AND MY INEXPERIENCE WITH THE NON PRECISION APCH PROC AT AN UNFAMILIAR ARPT. THE FLT WAS CONTINUED UNEVENTFULLY TO SJT AND AN EMER WAS NOT DECLARED. A SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL LNDG WAS MADE.