Pilot of homebuilt aircraft reports failure of the fuel selector in the off position. Reporter was a...

Attributes
ACN	883063
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Experimental
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Selector
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 2000 Flight Crew Type 8
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

After about 90 minutes of local flying; I tried to switch fuel tanks and the selector failed with the valve in the 'off' position. I was about 2000 feet at the time over the river and about 20 miles from my home base. The choice for landing was the river; muddy fields or the interstate. I chose the interstate as the wind was right down it and there was very little traffic. I landed in the northbound lanes with the traffic. My approach speed was just under traffic flow and I landed without incident. There was no damage to the plane; or cars on the ground and I was not injured. I borrowed a pair of needle nose pliers and was able to manually turn the fuel valve to one of the tanks; I could hear the fuel flow into the header tank and I had good flow at the gascolator. The state police stopped traffic and I proceeded to take off and fly back to home base and land. The plane is a homebuilt replica of a stinson that I just finished and am in the process of testing it and flying off the hours. I was within my 50 mile radius and over a non-populated area when the trouble occurred.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot of homebuilt aircraft reports failure of the fuel selector in the off position. Reporter was able to land successfully on an Interstate highway and make repairs; the aircraft was then flown back to home base.

Narrative: After about 90 minutes of local flying; I tried to switch fuel tanks and the selector failed with the valve in the 'Off' position. I was about 2000 feet at the time over the river and about 20 miles from my home base. The choice for landing was the river; muddy fields or the Interstate. I chose the Interstate as the wind was right down it and there was very little traffic. I landed in the northbound lanes with the traffic. My approach speed was just under traffic flow and I landed without incident. There was no damage to the plane; or cars on the ground and I was not injured. I borrowed a pair of needle nose pliers and was able to manually turn the fuel valve to one of the tanks; I could hear the fuel flow into the header tank and I had good flow at the gascolator. The state police stopped traffic and I proceeded to take off and fly back to home base and land. The plane is a homebuilt replica of a Stinson that I just finished and am in the process of testing it and flying off the hours. I was within my 50 mile radius and over a non-populated area when the trouble occurred.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Pilot of homebuilt aircraft reports failure of the fuel selector in the off position. Reporter was able to land successfully on an interstate highway and make repairs; the aircraft was then flown back to home base.