This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Lost power at approximately 1,000 feet toward end of climbout to remain in pattern for touch and goes.
I was probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile beyond the end of the runway. Turned back to runway and informed Tower I had lost power and needed to land.
I checked for any remedial problems and saw none, but noticed my prop was not turning.
I proceeded to land back on the runway and coasted to a stop on the taxiway. I was able to hand push the plane to the fuel pumps and added fuel and the plane then restarted.
The puzzle being the plane only took approximately 26 gallons when the tank holds 36, though only 32 usable, so I think there is some chance I might have had a vacuum created in the fuel tank.
I do run unvented fuel caps per a notice regarding the Aeronca Sedans because with vented caps there had been some incidents of planes running out of power attributed to the wing at higher pitch up, creating a vacuum at the tank.
The Aeronca Sedan has a belly vent that faces forward to pressurize the fuel tanks, or I could just have not realized how low the fuel was and it lost power because of the pitch up for climb then couldn’t restart because the prop stopped turning, i.e., I didn’t pitch down aggressively enough.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
rwyerosk … the Aeronca pilot DID list ‘usable fuel’, thus…
“…
The puzzle being the plane only took approximately 26 gallons when the tank holds 36, though only 32 usable, so I think there is some chance I might have had a vacuum created in the fuel tank.
…”
Stll… not smart to fly with essentially a minimum fuel load of 6-gallons usable…
I was a bit curious as to why the prop ‘stopped-cold’… didn’t windmill… but perhaps a climb [flat] pitch small prop would not generate enough rotational thrust to windmill. I though originally he had a catastrophic engine failure.
Also… I was unable to open “ACN: 1795174” so the weather at that time is unknown. IF below freezing perhaps a minor ice block in the fuel or vent lines could have caused a problem?
Completely right DA, according to my point of view.
I think the pilot of this aircraft ran out of usable fuel. Rushing to fill the tanks after an incident like this is not wise.
He claims it took only 26 gallons the TCDS shows total fuel is 36. Most aircraft have a useable fuel number. This aircraft does not indicate any number.
See TCDS
https://www.cubclub.org/tc/Aeronca/A802,%2015AC.pdf
Not smart doing touch and goes with minimum fuel
Sounds like complacency and a pilot who flies the same plane all the time without using the checklist for preflight. Practicing low fuel take off procedures? The only vacuum created was lack of thinking which created an emergency situation for the pilot and airport. I’d suggest three hours of ground school to stress the importance of preflighting, following the checklist, and fuel exhaustion. In the future, do not take off with less than twenty gallons of fuel for pattern work, and use a gauge stick so as to avoid guessing.
Pilot does not seem to realise the gravity of the situation.