Refueling after a flight?

My 182 gets topped off every time. I don't worry about weight as kids are not large and I don't get close to gross weight. This way I have the fuel I need when I need it and don't mind the extra weight. When I get to where I am going if less than half full I will fill up if the price is right. It has worked for me and I haven't had a close call of fuel starvation.


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Nope, not here but I will always fill up on the last flight if I know I am taking an extended trip in the next few days or I head back to the airport and fill up at least a day prior to the trip.

My reasoning is to let any water in my new fuel fully settle so I can sump it out instead of flying for an hour and letting it settle while I am in the air even worse if I am IFR in the air.

Plus I like to spend my time with my head into pre-flight and planning instead of taxing to the pump to fill up.
 
GeorgeC said:
Nate, do you have a reference for that 40-50 gallon number? I have read that bladders need to be topped off, is that an OWT?



edited to add:

http://www.eaglefuelcells.com/ga/tech_tips.html
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Just saw this but maybe you misunderstood that we fill the LR tanks (79-80 gallons) all winter to try to keep the bladders happy, but due to summertime performance issues we download to between 40-50 total on board for the next pilot in the summer flying season.

It's a trade off. Our bladders probably "don't like it" being hot on top of the wing (even in a hangar) in summer and wear out / crack a few years sooner, but summer performance numbers trump filling it with 480 lbs of fuel on board after every flight up here.

Personally I've come to the belief that the LR tanks on the late 70s 182s aren't as useful as they may sound in the marketing. I'm not going to fly beyond personal bladder range much anyway.

About the nicest part about LR tanks is in cold weather and IFR fuel reserves. I can carry a crapton of extra fuel and have more options if the weather doesn't cooperate.
 
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My RV is always filled to the top before put away. I could probably hit the pump less often, but for some reason I want to pull her out ready and full.

The two club planes I fly are always left at the tabs or the holes, as per club policy.
 
Yeah, I found a few references from bladder manufacturers indicating that topping them off is the way to go.
 
denverpilot said:
Just saw this but maybe you misunderstood that we fill the LR tanks (79-80 gallons) all winter to try to keep the bladders happy, but due to summertime performance issues we download to between 40-50 total on board for the next pilot in the summer flying season.

It's a trade off. Our bladders probably "don't like it" being hot on top of the wing (even in a hangar) in summer and wear out / crack a few years sooner, but summer performance numbers trump filling it with 480 lbs of fuel on board after every flight up here.

Personally I've come to the belief that the LR tanks on the late 70s 182s aren't as useful as they may sound in the marketing. I'm not going to fly beyond personal bladder range much anyway.

About the nicest part about LR tanks is in cold weather and IFR fuel reserves. I can carry a crapton of extra fuel and have more options if the weather doesn't cooperate.
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5 1/2 hours of fuel gives you a lot of options. My home field has some of the cheapest fuel on the east coast so being able to tanker fuel and fly from Virginia to Connecticut and back without refueling is a nice thing.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I fill up after every flight, but it's for the benefit of the Other Guy, not because I'm worried about condensation. Likewise he tops the plane off as well after he uses it.
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Our club rules require us to put the planes away with full tanks for that very reason. The exceptions are if we are coming from the south we can stop at KCLS and gas up (less expensive than at KOLM) or if we've burned less than 10 gallons the FBO has a 10 gallon minimum if you have the truck come to the hangar. And I don't go to the FBO, I need help shoving the plane back in the hangar. Well, except for the 182. We got a winch for it (finally!), so it now is a one person job to put away. Sure wish we had one for the 172s, as well.
 
I purchased my 1962 Cherokee 160 last spring. I had to drain water almost every flight for the first six months or so. I was a beginner student and was just beginning to learn how to care for my plane.

Moving the plane to the hangar had little to no affect. I asked around for advice. I was told to top off my tanks after every flight. There was much less water but there was still a problem. I decided the cap gaskets were just old and brittle and needed to be changed. After changing the gaskets, I haven't had any water.

I believe keeping the tanks topped off helped but changing the cap gasket was the source of the problem. I live in an extreme humid environment... Mississippi.

Now, I won't fill the tanks until they get below 35 gallons or so on 50 gallon tanks. Still no water... Crossing my fingers.
 
We have a gentleman's agreement to always fill it to the tabs for the next member. Sometimes it is easy to forget to call the fuel truck !! In that case, the next member fills it to the tabs and leaves you a nice note that you owe him money :)
 
denverpilot said:
Personally I've come to the belief that the LR tanks on the late 70s 182s aren't as useful as they may sound in the marketing. I'm not going to fly beyond personal bladder range much anyway.
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It does give you the option of flying somewhere that doesn't have gas, then make a decent length leg on the way back to somewhere that does have gas.
 
asicer said:
It does give you the option of flying somewhere that doesn't have gas, then make a decent length leg on the way back to somewhere that does have gas.
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I can't remember the last time I landed at an airport that didn't have fuel. Well, I guess you could say Gastons at their prices -- and the unknown how long their fuel has been sitting -- but Mountain Home is five minutes away. Don't need LR tanks for that.

The LR tanks just really aren't that useful unless I can find MoGas.
 
denverpilot said:
I can't remember the last time I landed at an airport that didn't have fuel. Well, I guess you could say Gastons at their prices -- and the unknown how long their fuel has been sitting -- but Mountain Home is five minutes away. Don't need LR tanks for that.

The LR tanks just really aren't that useful unless I can find MoGas.
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You're probably the only 182 flyer I've met who didn't think LR tanks are useful.

There are tons of airports out these parts without fuel. Some of them are sleepy little grass strips, others are municipal airports without self-serve, where fueling up after hours is not an easy (or cheap) task. Also some destinations are so damn expensive that tankering makes sense.

For example, LR tanks save me $50 every time I fly up to White Plains, NY where I can buy gas for $6.97, versus tankering my $3.35 gas, without any extra stops.
 
Brad Z said:
You're probably the only 182 flyer I've met who didn't think LR tanks are useful.



There are tons of airports out these parts without fuel. Some of them are sleepy little grass strips, others are municipal airports without self-serve, where fueling up after hours is not an easy (or cheap) task. Also some destinations are so damn expensive that tankering makes sense.



For example, LR tanks save me $50 every time I fly up to White Plains, NY where I can buy gas for $6.97, versus tankering my $3.35 gas, without any extra stops.
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It's the DA. Anywhere lower I wouldn't care at all. Tankering is nice when it works out that the fuel is cheap where I'm going. It's never cheap at home base.
 
I don't. I live in a dry climate. Condensation in the tanks has not ever happened to me here.

When I lived in central Texas it didn't really happen either. The only water I ever saw in the tanks came after sustained rainfall. So I moved that airplane first under a cover and later into a hangar and never saw water in the tanks again.

Filling the tanks on most airplanes limits your W&B options for the next flight so I don't do it.
 
I live in the humid (in the summer) midatlantic area. Never pulled water out of the tanks either. All this condensation presumes that either there's a whole lot of water in the headspace (which there is not,at 15C each gallon of air only holds a few milligrams of water at saturation) or there's a lot of breathing of air in and out of the tanks (not).
 
Yeah, I've never kept tanks full, and I've only ever once pulled water out of one of them. And yeah, my home base is expensive. Were it otherwise I might keep the aircraft fully fueled, though there is the gear to think of.
 
I prefer to top off before the flight unless I am leaving really early. Our airplane is in a hangar. I very, very rarely sump any water, and when I do, it is just a drop or so. I am in a humid climate also (Memphis).
 
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