Hi

I'm one of the new owners of a C205 which is used for skydiving. On the first day of operations, we had the engine sputter in the landing pattern, and the pilot turned on the boost pump and switched tanks, after which everything was fine for that landing.  There was plenty of fuel in both tanks when this happened. 

On the next flight, the throttle was firewalled for takeoff, and the power climbed and then went immediately to idle.  We did not lift that load and took the plane to the mechanic. 

We did find some contamination of the fuel system and had the system flushed (it has previously been operated at a grass field with an older fuel bowser).  We also had the fuel manifold removed and inspected by an engine overhaul shop, and it was found to be in good shape with no problems.  Insualtion was added to fuel lines to help prevent vapour lock.  However, after these fixes and inspections, a subsequent full power runup on the ground saw the engine go to full power, then immediately drop to idle.

When we were looking at this aircraft, we had the previous owner come in and fly some loads for us, along with one of our seasoned pilots (an airline pilot by day).  The engine did quit at about 10,000 feet, but restarted with the boost pump and a tank switch. We attributed this to the fact that this operator liked to fly with very small amounts of fuel (<12 gal) on board, and we thought the tanks might be unporting in flight.  However, we usually operate with alot more fuel and thought this would not affect us.

The other interesting issue is that this previous owner had two bent cotter pins stuck into the vents of the fuel caps, and he told me they had to be there.  However, our mechanics removed these pins once we bought the aircraft, saying they were not an authorized mod. Our fuel system problems started soon after (admittedly this may be a coincidence).


We have operated C182s up to this point and have not run into a similar problem. Obviously we want this fixed, and don't want to take jumpers until we are sure we have found the cause of the problem.

Clearly the previous owner did have fuel problems as well, but convincd himself, or at least convinced us, that this was due to flying with very low fuel.

Would any expert out there care to speculate on this behaviour?  Could there be a fuel venting problem?  Is the 205 susceptible to any other fuel system issues?


Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide!