PA-46 Malibu Meridian
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210; Flight Crew Total 2800; Flight Crew Type 51
Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft
I was performing a familiarization flight with the owner of a Piper PA-46. After flying for roughly 1.5 hours; we entered the left traffic pattern for Runway XX. The wind was 130@15G20; so we had a significant tailwind on downwind. I let the owner/student perform a wider than usual pattern to allow the airplane time to slow down and for him to perform his checklists; as he was getting behind the airplane. On the midfield; downwind at 800 feet AGL; our engine quit. I immediately moved all power levers full and switched fuel tanks; which didn't do anything. I took control of the airplane and began searching for an emergency landing spot while I asked the student to perform the Engine Failure Checklist. The student turned on the emergency 'high' fuel pump at approximately 400 feet AGL. He continued to crank the starter to try and restart the engine before and after switching the emergency fuel pump on. In the meantime; I retracted the landing gear and found a field to land [on] and was setting up on a base. With the tailwind; there was a slim chance I could make it to the runway. I turned onto final for my designated field and was probably less than 100 feet AGL when the emergency fuel pump kicked in and came back to life with full power. It felt like an eternity; but was most likely 30-45 seconds that it took the emergency fuel pump to kick in. I used ground effect to help generate some airspeed; climbed out; and headed straight to the airport and landed on Runway XX. The emergency fuel pump on this type of airplane is designed to flood out the engine if the mechanical engine driven fuel pump is working. It even has a guard on the switch to prevent someone from in inadvertently activating it in-flight. When I shut the airplane off with the mixture after landing; it continued to run smoothly. I shut the emergency fuel pump off and then the engine shut down. Based on that; I am speculating that the engine driven fuel pump quit working in the traffic pattern. The airplane is obviously grounded until we can confirm and replace the defective components. The biggest takeaway of this report is to always perform a traffic pattern within gliding range of the runway. I let the student perform wider pattern which prevented us from gliding to the runway when our engine quit. Had we been within gliding distance we would have been able to execute a successful short approach for Runway XX or XY.
PA-46 Pilot reported that on downwind the engine quit due to fuel starvation.