Snoopy wrote:
shut off an engine in a DA42 during the fuel selector crossfeed test
Did you need to have the fuel pumps inspected for damage afterwards?
I once almost killed my copilot and myself with a stunt that investigators would have never figured out.
We had extra fuel in jerry cans in the cabin and due to the weather, we had to climb to FL190. Back then I did not have a lot of experience with jerry cans and did not insist on them being filled completely up to the cap (you have to tilt them for that) so there was some air in it. This air expanded as we climbed and the jerry cans started to look like balloons and we got worried they would burst. So we had the fantastic idea of releasing the pressure at FL190. My friend opened the first and the air escaped quickly creating the perfect mixture in the cabin at which fuel ignites. I couldn’t have been better. One spark, the King display, the DME tubes etc. would have ignited and and the whole aircraft would have exploded and gone down over the Med as a fireball. Needless to say, there was plenty of pure oxygen flowing in the cabin via the builtin oxygen system and cannulas. I’ve immediately opened the window at 170KTAS and FL190 which could have cost us the window as well. Ever since then we celebrate this day as our 2nd birthday…
After that experience I made sure cabin fuel tanks are without air or properly vented. Switched to the Turtle Pack which has a vent that I can hold outside the window in any weather and flight situation but I try to squeeze all air out to not have to do it.
I recall an incident during glider training some 29 years ago.
I was happily watching the towing aircraft to do initiate a left turn, with me starting a right turn shortly afterwards.
The towing rope rectified that quickly.
On my first and only flight in an ancient seneca i switched off the mags of the right engine instead of the fuel pumps.
A CAA examiner delighted in doing this in his role as a newbie multi student, on FI Multi initial check rides.
Ideally we need a voting list to see how many items we have ticked. The longer I fly the more I become attached to the ACME School of Flying use of checklists.
Peter wrote:
One would actually use the PIT mode for that.
Even better.
To ad a mistake of my own to this topic, I once inadvertently shut off an engine in a DA42 during the fuel selector crossfeed test on the ground. Qualifying as a true BF as you have to open an interlock to move the fuel selector all the way to the off position.
This really shows that we have the ‘creme de la creme’ of pilots on this forum. Just a few % had brain farts! 
I’ll try to keep an eye on it and will report back if I ever have one. I may have had a few in the past, but since my memory is failing me more and more..
Maybe you could use VS zero as a mode in turbulent conditions?
One would actually use the PIT mode for that. It maintains pitch and the ROL mode holds wings level. So you have no altitude hold and no heading hold but the plane should remain the right way up.
Cobalt wrote:
and quickly switched them back on.
You’re lucky no unburnt fuel exploded in the exhaust stack…
lenthamen wrote:
Close to this switch is the Engine Master switch.
Do not know if this has been mentioned on this forum before. That same mistake killed an instructor and a student in Russia.
Page 79: http://mak.ru/russian/investigations/2014/report_ra-01726.pdf
Peter wrote:
the lowest VS value I could get was zero
On my first and only flight in an ancient seneca i switched off the mags of the right engine instead of the fuel pumps. The guard that was meant to orevent this was loose and hence not protecting the switches properly. Fortunately i re-enganged my brain before going into automatic feathering drills (it happened after leveling off at 2,000 ft) and quickly switched them back on.
