Mooney M20 · NTSB accident record

An Untouched Fuel Tank on FinalERA24LA022

An airplane parked a month or two, a fresh 40 gallons, and a fuel tank switched on short final

Date
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Time
~2:30 PM EDT
Weather
VMC · scattered 4,400 ft, broken 5,500 ft · 10 SM · wind 080 at 16 gust 26 kt · 84°F
Location
North Perry Airport (KHWO), Pembroke Pines, Florida
Age
34
Hours in type (Mooney M20)
79 hrs
Hours, last 90 days
4 hrs
Cockpit moment

Short Final — The Tank You Never Switched

You're in a Mooney M20E, out for an afternoon of touch-and-go practice.

The airplane has sat parked for at least a month or two.

Before the flight, the line added 40 fresh gallons — 20 to each wing.

You started on the right tank, ran up, and every gauge sat in the green.

You flew out to Dade-Collier, made a touch-and-go, and turned back for the option on 10L.

Descending, you run the pre-landing checklist — boost pump, selector, gear, mixture, prop.

Then something catches your eye.

You've been on the right tank for about an hour and never switched.

The wind is out of the east, gusting into the twenties.

You're close to final now.

Do you move the fuel selector this low and this close in — or leave the tank that's fed you all flight alone?

By the numbers
831
fuel-starvation accidents
55
a year
88%
were survivable
143
lives lost in them
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The decision

On short final, one tank has fed the engine all flight and the other is untouched since a long layoff — what do you do with the fuel selector?