Paul and other guys flying certified airplanes,

   I had a recent annual done on my Cessna. They found a sizable amount of
   water in the tanks and rightly drained, dried them out, and replaced the
   fuel with new.  It was found that there has been gasoline theft
   happening at my airport and unfortunately the pattern seems to indicate
   it is a plane owner doing this:(   Time for the tar and feathers when he
   is caught.

   When I arrived to fly, I  repeatably drained full samples from the wings
   and lowest fuel sump under the engine and confirmed there was no water
   remaining in the fuel. This action failed to uncover the fact that there
   was probably some water remaining in the carburetor float bowl.   Fuel
   floats on water so a ten minute taxi and run-up on level ground failed
   to reveal the potential trouble.  Take-off was on a warm day and with a
   longer than normal take-off roll. Climb out at mid field resulted in the
   engine sputtering and quitting at about 100 feet or just as I was
   trimming for a normal high angle climb rate.   I imagine the nose high
   attitude allowed  water to be sucked out of the float bowl first.

   Yoke slammed forward and a less than stellar landing and a quick cut
   across the grass onto an intersecting runway saved me from going into a
   nasty overgrown area at the end of the runway.  No damage to plane or
   pants, only pride.  After repeatedly priming the engine starting it and
   witnessing it die three times, the water finally left the bowl and the
   engine ran fine. I was then able to do some cross country flying after
   the engine and I had a brief chance to cool down.

   Lessons learned.   Never assume a freshly annual airplane by  highly
   qualified mechanic is safe or that is has been test flown. The law does
   not require the shop to test fly the airplane after the engine or air
   frame has been worked on, unless that work was on the flight control
   systems. Assume the possibility of trouble anytime a plane (or any
   machine for that matter) sits, unused for an extended amount of time.
   Although it wasn't an issue this time, I might add  that this warning
   should also be applied anytime anyone (including self) does maintenance
   on the engine.  I had a premonition before flying this time and was
   ready for trouble but still this kind of glider practice and precision
   landings are not my most favorite types of flying.

   Doug in Japan

Still could have been water in the tanks if they were not rocked for a
while. It took 3 fillups before I got all the water out of a 150 I
purchased on the trip home.

Dan