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He had 4 tanks on a Saratoga, I think you only have about 1 1/2 hours fuel on each out board tank. He flew a 182 most of the time with the tanks in the both position, this is one reason I think he forgot about the fuel. He had the cast on his leg, that may have been alittle more time. The plane would try to pitch up with the motor off and the autopilot on. He may have turned the autopilot off first, then think what happened, switched tanks. He may have needed to turn the fuel pump on the fuel injected motor. ? Gene [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- In a message dated 8/6/02 3:37:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The motor STOPS at 5000' in the DARK! The autopilot go's nuts trying to maintain altitude and level. Alot is happening in the dark! He either turns off auto pilot then turns on the fuel, or he turns on the fuel and then turns off the auto pilot. The plane go's from 5000' to 3000' in this amount of time. I dunno, Gene. That's an awful long time to be switching tanks. I have intentionally run tanks dry and it's still a surprise when it finally happens. Average time to switch and have the engine resume is about 5 seconds. I'd guess the altitude loss is about 5 feet. My bet is that he started his descent into MVY, disengaged the auto pilot, dropped into the haze and lost it. Besides, if the tank was full when he started, he should have had a lot more time on it, don't you think? What does an Archer burn, something like 11-12/hour? And the tank must be at least 25, right? ================================================================== TO UNSUBSCRIBE go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm . ================================================================== TO UNSUBSCRIBE go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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