Wouldn’t do much to prevent stealing the gas. Just makes the honest thieves pay cash rather than replace it.
Because drains are very slow at draining ten gallons of fuel.
I’ve seen guys try to suck it out the top on a Baron. Fiddle-farted away half an hour before they got out the buckets and drained through the drains in less time.
That might be true. But your premise requires that the perpetrator has done this often enough to know that its faster to go digging in a random dumpster to find a hose/tube that may or may not be there and then use said hose/tube to siphon fuel from the top of the tank knowing full well that tank has a gravity fed sump drain that will work no matter what even if it takes a few minutes longer in the long run.
Do you have a reference to the definition of “theft” that in any way discusses “compensation”?
I think that might’ve been the crew that asked me how much a 5-gallon bucket held.
Not the same situation. You really think it was life or death for the pilot leaving the cash? The scenario we are presented with is the gas taker is to self important to fix his own **** up in a reasonable manner. Nothing in the scenario is life or death except for the now unknown impact on the fuel system/status of the guys airplane that has a pocket full of cash and less fuel in his tank.
Easy to say because you are not faced with the situation. Wait it out if the small airport no longer sells fuel? If I have half tanks of fuel or more you can take it and pay no problem. I guess we see things differently in the rural Mountain West where helping out someone is considered something you just do as an moral obligation. Many people here have helped me in an emergency and I plan on helping others. I find some replies is depressing for me. We Americans are so smug as to how wonderful we are. My opinion has just fallen a lot.
Are you referencing my posts ?
That note would need to also say a very compelling reason for the emergency departure for me not to lose my cool. i.e. My wife is in labor, kid is in the hospital, etc. In which case I wouldn’t even care if they paid. I don’t even let pro’s fuel the plane without me being there.
Years ago nobody would have even thought twice about helping someone like this. It would have been automatic. Today, many people seem to want to crucify the "fuel buyer" without ever even knowing the full story. I would hope that if someone "borrowed/bought" fuel out of my plane, I would be glad to have been able to help them out. The fact that he paid double for fuel tells me that he felt a little bad for what he thought he had to do in his circumstance, whatever it was. He could have just stolen the fuel after all. There was a time when we looked to help out our fellow man. Not so much anymore, I guess. When my wife and I were coming home from the Bahama's in our Cherokee, on our second to last leg, we had much stronger than forecast headwinds, and I didn't think i could get to my intended final fuel stop. I made the decision to stop short at an airport that had self serve fuel in Northeast Louisiana. It was late on a Sunday afternoon, the weekend after Thanksgiving. It had been a long and trip, we were both a tired, and we were trying to get home before a massive cold front arrived in Kansas. The problem was that when we landed and taxied to the pump, there was a note on the cardtrol that said that the credit card reader was not working, and only the local smart card reader was allowing for fuel to be dispensed. I didn't know what to do. About that time, a local came up to confirm that the credit card reader did not work. I asked him if he had a smart card. He informed me that he did. I asked if I could buy a few gallons of gas to get me to the next airport, however, all I had to pay him with was a check. He declined. My wife and I were not angry at him, just very disappointed and very very sad. I lost a lot of faith in humanity that day. He was so worried that a 30 dollar check was going to bounce I guess, and to him, helping a fellow pilot out in his time of need was just not worth the risk. When all we can think about is ourselves, we all die a little. In today's world, I guess the Golden Rule no longer applies.
I have had a number of things stolen from me in my life. In not a single instance did the thief leave a note and leave double the amount of money the item was worth.
I think the dude in Louisiana was an *******. I would have gladly taken your check or even a handshake promise to send a check in the mail after you got home.
