I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise-pumps for moving liquids have been around for centuries, so one would expect the design and manufacture of such relatively simple devices to have been sorted out. It was then that I started learning that aircraft fuel pumps, whether engine driven or electrically powered, rarely fail.Īs I researched this article, the reliability of aircraft fuel pumps, as compared to other components on our airplanes, was pointed out to me by every mechanic and overhaul technician I spoke with. The problem wasn’t the engine-driven fuel pump it was a cracked fuel line. As I shut down the right engine, the chief mechanic appeared and told me in a loud voice that there was fuel dripping from the left nacelle. I foolishly taxied to the FBO on the right engine, a fire truck following uselessly. On landing rollout, the left engine quit and wouldn’t restart. I assumed that the engine-driven fuel pump had failed. It would run fine with the aux pump on not at all with it off. After leveling off and setting low cruise power, I tried turning off the pumps again, and found that the left engine was the problem. I turned the pumps back on and the engine restarted. A few minutes into the climb, I shut off the aux pumps, one at a time. Some years ago I was taking an IPC and FR in a Piper Aztec. That is a Continental engine-driven fuel pump on a Piper Seneca’s TSIO-360 engine.
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