Bonanza 36
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 2500; Flight Crew Type 2200
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors
After completing an IFR flight I canceled my IFR flight plan to travel southwest of the airport. After spending 15 minutes or so sightseeing and doing some simple maneuvers; I then received ATIS and called the Tower for clearance to land. I received clearance to land and was informed I was number one for the right. At this time or very shortly after I had a complete engine shutdown/failure. I notified the Tower of my situation and then proceed to attempt a restart. I then informed the Tower that I was not having any success in restarting the engine and informed them I was going to have to make an off airport landing. Accessing my options; I elected to set the airplane down in a farm field. Fortunately the aircraft did not sustain any damage and my sole passenger was also without injury.Cause of this is still trying to be determined; but during my flight I felt that my left fuel gauge was not reading correctly. My piloting procedure is normally to change tanks every 30 minutes; however due to my concern of a faulty fuel gauge and wanting to know I had plenty of fuel; I elected to burn more fuel out of my left tank. Ultimately I think; while not totally empty; the fuel remaining in the tank was not enough to allow the engine to run. Complicating this; I now believe the left fuel cap had a bad O ring which was causing a faulty reading on my gauge. Nonetheless; I did immediately switch tanks in the air and this was done around 3;200 feet MSL. Despite switching tanks and confirming Electric was on/Mixture Full Rich and Power full forward; the engine did not restart. I know I did not leave the fuel pump on the whole time but once I got below 2;000 feet; I abandoned the idea of a restart and focused my attention on where best to land.Learning [experience] for me is to carry more fuel. I should also say that once I did return the aircraft back to base it was determined I had about 20 gallons of fuel remaining on the plane. My mechanics are still looking for other possible causes of this engine failure. One item that was peculiar was the left tank fuel cell bladder was off the bottom of the plane and appeared to be almost sucked out through the fuel cap. Again; at this time I don't fully understand the implications of that; but will work to better understand this matter.
A36 pilot experiences engine failure approaching the destination airport and elects to land in a farm field. The left wing fuel bladder was wadded up and off the bottom of the wing and in use at the time. The right tank contained sufficient fuel and was selected but the engine did not restart.