Mooney down in CT - N53CP

[chriscalandro]

running the tank dry makes me nervous. I’ve never done it. 

[takair]

9 minutes ago, chriscalandro said:

running the tank dry makes me nervous. I’ve never done it. 

It’s like getting some cardio while flying, gets my pulse up even when I’m expecting it.

[larryb]

I never switch my tank on the ground. I figure if it worked to land from the last flight it will work for the next takeoff too. I also don’t switch much in the air. I’ll burn 10 gallons in the takeoff tank. Then I switch and burn the other one to around 5 gallons left. Then back to takeoff tank for the rest of the flight.

[flyer338]

I never had an engine stumble when running a tank dry. I knew both from needle position of the fuel gauge and elapsed time when to expect the tank to run dry. I kept the fuel pressure in my scan and looked at it almost constantly for the last few minutes. As soon as the fuel pressure started to drop it was boost pump on and switch tanks. I was younger and skinny in those days and the engine never hiccuped. 

[larrynimmo]

after replacing my pickup tube gasket on an empty tank, we filled the wing 100%...we opened the fuel selector to that tank and turned on the boost pump....and absolutely never built up any pressure because  the pump had become dry.

started up the engine and the engine mounted diaphragm pump sucked the gasoline through the system giving normal pressure and operation.

my point is I’m not sure what the boost pump will do for you, except to prime engine before starting and opearate as a backup or in the event that there is some kind of failure on the engine mounted pump that is not from a ruptured diaphragm.

centrifical pumps (boost pump) by design will only pump when they are primed...they are not self priming

[gsxrpilot]

5 hours ago, larrynimmo said:

my point is I’m not sure what the boost pump will do for you, except to prime engine before starting and opearate as a backup or in the event that there is some kind of failure on the engine mounted pump that is not from a ruptured diaphragm.

I never used the boost pump when running a tank dry with my carbureted M20C. And I've never needed the boost pump with my 252 when running a tank dry, as long as I was below 15K feet or so. But when running a tank dry in the flight levels, the POH and my experience, calls for the High Boost pump on. And it takes about 10 seconds (an ETERNITY) at that altitude to restart even with the boost pump on.