CHECK YOUR FUEL

ircphoenix

ircphoenix

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ircphoenix
So... I didn't really fly and learn this lesson the hard way, seeing as I tanker fuel all over the place... but I was going through the NTSB accident database today to see what I should be more cognizant of when flying my plane and I discovered a shocking number of fuel exhaustion incidents due to inadequate fuel planning. In nearly half of the cases the pilots say "yeah, I had enough fuel to make it to my destination, but I encountered a significant headwind."

THEN YOU DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION, EFFTARD.

So again... check your fuel. Make sure there's plenty of it in the tanks. Make sure your fuel planning is adequate and double check your numbers if winds change or you have to divert somewhere. Sump before you fly. And set a reminder on your phone or in your GPS unit (if it has timers) to remind you to switch tanks.
 
Story, Commercial checkride, I forgot to flip tanks. I noticed right after we finished up and thought whew he didn't notice that mistake. Instructor asked me if we needed more fuel for the way back and the examiner chimed in, "you should be good, left tank is full". That was embarrassing and I won't forget it
 
The cause of many accidents. The one good thing that came out of my Mooney travails is when I got it back one tank was almost empty, allowing me to develop a fuel stick. The gas gauges in my aircraft are useless, I have to know how much fuel I start with. The other trick I use is a religiously kept fuel log.
 
I use the most pessimistic of my fuel gauges, the fuel flow counter, and my watch .
 
ircphoenix said:
Welcome back Steingar. Read about the Mooney. Happens to the best of folks. Glad to see you're back!!
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Glad to be back. I just didn't feel in the right space to post here when I'd put my airplane in the shop and wasn't flying.
 
Yeah it's crazy to see the most simple thing we pilots can control yet we crash in high numbers yearly by running out of fuel.

I installed a jpi-fs450 in my Cherokee and haven't looked back! I keep a log of fuel used and cross and triple check between fuel log, jpi, and fbo fuel ticket. My jpi is so dialed in if says I used 22.2 gallons that is what the fuel truck will say..if not spot on within a tenth or so. I've also learned my fuel gauges are pretty darn accurate.

Before every flight I stick my tanks, compare to jpi, and fuel gauge. All in agreement and if the jpi says I've got 2 hours remaining...ive got 2 hours remaining. I love it!
 
ircphoenix said:
So... I didn't really fly and learn this lesson the hard way, seeing as I tanker fuel all over the place... but I was going through the NTSB accident database today to see what I should be more cognizant of when flying my plane and I discovered a shocking number of fuel exhaustion incidents due to inadequate fuel planning. In nearly half of the cases the pilots say "yeah, I had enough fuel to make it to my destination, but I encountered a significant headwind."

THEN YOU DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FUEL TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION, EFFTARD.

So again... check your fuel. Make sure there's plenty of it in the tanks. Make sure your fuel planning is adequate and double check your numbers if winds change or you have to divert somewhere. Sump before you fly. And set a reminder on your phone or in your GPS unit (if it has timers) to remind you to switch tanks.
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Yup. I've read a lot of them to, a lot. Pilot error is a majority of the causes. A majority of those errors happen before the airplane even takes off and a lot of them happen before it even taxis. Fuel, existing and forecast weather, checklists.
 
CMongoose said:
I bought one of these last year. Especially on a high-wing it makes the fuel check process very easy, and more accurate.

http://www.fuelstik.com
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The problem with these things is the calibration. Fro example, my airplane has fuel bladders, so I doubt I could actually get data to calibrate such a device. On the other hand, while one tank was mostly empty we took a stick (free) and drew the fuel level on it with a pencil (also free). Not perfect, but closer than anything else.
 
You can buy a fuel stick for more common airplanes like the Piper Cherokee or Cessna Skyhawk, they aren't even that much money. I'd wanted one forever for my Mooney, but was timid about intentionally running a tank dry. It just happened that one of the tanks looked dry when I picked it up from the shop. But yeah, so long a you don' mind running a tank dry (or defueling it) you can develop a fuel stick for any aircraft. Given that my fuel gauges don't really reflect the amount of fuel int eh airplane I consider it a necessity.
 
Clip4 said:
Wow, only $25. Yea, the free paint stick is the way to go.
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I think the big advantage is on a high wing, where a good look down inside the tank can be challenging at times :)
 
I always fly with an hour minimum fuel reserve. I have only seen the JPI fuel totalizer start blinking one time that I was in the reserve (10 gallons/1 hr), and my flight ended (normally) a few minutes thereafter. It is one of the many, but obvious ways to avoid problems, and angst. Yes, I go by my watch also.
 
Anthony said:
I always fly with an hour minimum fuel reserve. I have only seen the JPI fuel totalizer start blinking one time that I was in the reserve (10 gallons/1 hr), and my flight ended (normally) a few minutes thereafter. It is one of the many, but obvious ways to avoid problems, and angst. Yes, I go by my watch also.
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I had working and fairly accurate gauges in my Cherokee. My rule was always that if I see the tanks on quarters, time to land at my nearest. Always. Didn't matter how close I was to my destination, land at the nearest. Draconian, but I never ran out of fuel.

Can't do that in the Mooney, since the fuel gauges don't really reflect whether there's fuel in the aircraft. So fuel logs and stick. I rarely let it get much below half tanks. Four hour duration max. My bladder can't last much longer than that anyway.
 
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CMongoose said:
I think the big advantage is on a high wing, where a good look down inside the tank can be challenging at times :)
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I fly a 182 a lot, a paint stick with calibrations on it works really well. You dip it, pull it out and the wood has a wet line at the level.you do not need to look in the tank.
 
I know how "accurate" the fuel gauges can be on the Cherokee. That's why I plan on installing this in the near future.

Thanks to NealRomeoGolf for spending my money.

10-05428.jpg
 
Had an old CFI tell me of a story of a former student who left a gas cap off on a Cessna.

Didn't notice the fuel streaming aft, Cessna system on "Both" allows the suction to pull fuel THROUGH the fuel selector as a path to the other wing. Guy was fastidious about fuel, always sticked, always had a real fuel flow gauge, always paid attention... to everything BUT the main old boring gauges he "didn't trust" in flight. Didn't include them even in passing in his every so often check of engine gauges. ("The JPI is more accurate anyway...")

Except when fuel is going overboard.

Guess who landed on a road?

Luckily airplane intact, no damage, no injuries, and he lived to fly another day.

Always at least LOOK at the main fuel gauges once in a while and make sure they say something at least CLOSE to sane.

Meanwhile, if I were still seeing that instructor regularly, I think I'd ask him if he ever thought to send his former student a Team Chemtrail patch, once that became a "thing". LOL!
 
I lost a fuel cap once. On my first long XC from 54AZ to Havasu. Was taking a leak after one of my less than stellar landings when the line guy greeted me:
is 737JH yours?

Yes.

You're missing your right fuel cap.

#^**%

After a brief trip into town in the crew van and scrounging the shops on the field, I found a nice guy who loaned me a fuel cap that I overnighted back that evening.

The kicker is... my CFI had fueled the plane after my preflight as his fuel pump was down while I was preflighting.

Still my fault.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Timbeck2 said:
I know how "accurate" the fuel gauges can be on the Cherokee. That's why I plan on installing this in the near future.

Thanks to NealRomeoGolf for spending my money.

10-05428.jpg
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That's on my wants list, ain't that much $$, just do the install from my JPI and upgrading the fuel senders, that's the reason I'm kinda like meh



Had a student not fully secure a fuel cap on a 7ECA, took off, I noticed at a few hundred feet the stream, "hey do you think we should land and maybe put the fuel cap on all the way", lucky it was on a chain and also didn't hurt anything, lesson learned, little 100ll wasted, still had lunch.


As for the "do you think we should stop for fuel". It's a if you have to ask you already know the answer and probably should have already acted on it.
 
James331 said:
That's on my wants list, ain't that much $$, just do the install from my JPI and upgrading the fuel senders, that's the reason I'm kinda like meh



Had a student not fully secure a fuel cap on a 7ECA, took off, I noticed at a few hundred feet the stream, "hey do you think we should land and maybe put the fuel cap on all the way", lucky it was on a chain and also didn't hurt anything, lesson learned, little 100ll wasted, still had lunch.


As for the "do you think we should stop for fuel". It's a if you have to ask you already know the answer and probably should have already acted on it.
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Why EI over JPI?
 
Timbeck2 said:
I know how "accurate" the fuel gauges can be on the Cherokee. That's why I plan on installing this in the near future.

Thanks to NealRomeoGolf for spending my money.
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I looked at that one for my Cherokee, but you know what..I couldn't justify the cost because I couldn't get all the customization's I wanted on one screen. You have to pick which "instruments" you want to show.

I settled for this one:

Capture.JPG


Worked perfectly fine for me and really helped manage fuel flow in GPH during long cross countries. Also, it's under $600.
 
Keep in mind. Fuel can leak. You put the plane away full of fuel. It leaks out. You come and fly the plane, thinking its full of fuel. It isn't

Also, if you call and have your rental fueled ahead of time. They top it off. Someone rents it and flys it for an hour. You show up, thinking its full of fuel. It isn't.

You count on fueling at an airport. You land and the fueling station is not functioning. What do you do now?
 
There are also differing opinions on what "full" or "topped off" means. I have asked for the same thing at different places and seen results varying from fuel flowing out the vent line to space for another hour of fuel. If you don't personally look in the tank or stick it just before starting the engine, you don't know how much fuel you have and you shouldn't make any assumptions about the quantity of fuel on board when you begin your flight. People die because of this simple mistake. Don't make it.

What happens after you start the engine also varies. You and I lean differently. We load the plane differently. We maintain altitude and heading with different levels of wandering about. Keep track of the fuel you use and plan accordingly--and pessimistically. Watch your inaccurate fuel gauges, too. The chances are that they are consistently inaccurate so you will notice inconsistencies that might indicate abnormal fuel burn or a leak.

There are plenty of ways to get yourself into trouble in an airplane. Running out of fuel is one of the easiest to avoid.
 
Has to be rough renting, since you never really know what's in the airplane unless you stick the tanks, which is a pain in a high wing. If you own, a fuel log will go a long way toward telling you how much gas is in the aircraft. I've never been wrong more than a gallon or two. Yeah, leaks can happen. That's one are where low wings rule, since you can look and see the fuel going overboard.
 
steingar said:
Has to be rough renting, since you never really know what's in the airplane unless you stick the tanks, which is a pain in a high wing. If you own, a fuel log will go a long way toward telling you how much gas is in the aircraft. I've never been wrong more than a gallon or two. Yeah, leaks can happen. That's one are where low wings rule, since you can look and see the fuel going overboard.
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If it leaks out the fuel caps.

Pipers have fuel sampler valves that can stick open or drip. Those are much harder to spot.
 
MAKG1 said:
If it leaks out the fuel caps.

Pipers have fuel sampler valves that can stick open or drip. Those are much harder to spot.
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Drips and leaks are two different animals. The sumps on my Cherokee did nothing but leak, but never enough to make a difference. If they are going to leak in the air they're going to do it on the ground, and if its that bad one should easily spot it on preflight even if the aircraft is tied down in the weeds.
 
CMongoose said:
I bought one of these last year. Especially on a high-wing it makes the fuel check process very easy, and more accurate.
hxxp://www.fuelstik.com
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Hey, before we post links to other sites, use this tool to verify if they are OK to visit or not: www.virustotal[.]com (URL intentionally defanged).

Fuelstik comes back from my local web client & the aforementioned VirusTotal as potentially hosting malware.
 
Steingar, was that you who taxied past the hangar party going on tonite? Met some interesting people including Larry, the new IA on the field. Your wishes may have been answered! He says he's very interested in helping us GA guys with any issues and hopes to grow that side of the business on the field. Seemed like a nice guy...
 
Timbeck2 said:
I know how "accurate" the fuel gauges can be on the Cherokee. That's why I plan on installing this in the near future.

Thanks to NealRomeoGolf for spending my money.

10-05428.jpg
Click to expand...


You're gonna love that unit. Had one installed in December. Easy to read, great for leaning either way and accurate fuel flow. Just make sure you adjust the K Factor. The avionics shops don't do that. After the first three or four flights go into the fuel management screen, see what the CGR thinks was used as opposed to the actual use. Instructions are in the manual for making the correction. After a few flights you should be super accurate.
 
iflyvfr said:
Steingar, was that you who taxied past the hangar party going on tonite? Met some interesting people including Larry, the new IA on the field. Your wishes may have been answered! He says he's very interested in helping us GA guys with any issues and hopes to grow that side of the business on the field. Seemed like a nice guy...
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Tweren't me, I was on a jet headed for Guatemala. I am in Antigua right now.
 
steingar said:
Tweren't me, I was on a jet headed for Guatemala. I am in Antigua right now.
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Not really. The engine did gets lots of new stuff, but upgrades come later. An IFR GPS, an ADS-B transponder, and with luck an alternator to power it all.
 
steingar said:
Not really. The engine did gets lots of new stuff, but upgrades come later. An IFR GPS, an ADS-B transponder, and with luck an alternator to power it all.
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You said you were on a jet headed for Guatemala... figured the Mooney had a new turbofan. =D
 
ircphoenix said:
You said you were on a jet headed for Guatemala... figured the Mooney had a new turbofan. =D
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No, the Mooney has the same engine. I took a jet because it was about half the price of flying the Mooney. That, and flying over the Gulf and over mountains on a newly rebuilt engine isn't for me.
 
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