Bellanca Aircraft Corp Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Student
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 35; Flight Crew Total 72; Flight Crew Type 62
Time Pressure; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Aircraft; Human Factors
Lost power at approximately 1;000 feet toward end of climbout to remain in pattern for touch and go's was probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile beyond end of 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 runway and coast 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 un-vented 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.
Aeronca pilot reported the engine lost power during initial climb. The pilot was unable to restart the engine and returned to the runway to a successful landing. Post flight; the pilot conjectured that the engine failure could be due to inadequate fuel or a vacuum in the tanks.