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God Morning Everyone:: If there is anything we do with Ercoupes on a more continual basis than have them fueled by ridiculously stupid line "Jocks," I don't know what it is! I recall once flying into Childress Texas in August. Hotter than a country boy's cap pistol, and the fuel Guy comes popping out of the Office, ready to "assist." I walk over to the Office to get some heat relief, and I spotted the business card of an old acquaintance on the wall, which I began to take the phone data from. In comes the fuel guy, ringing wet with sweat and says, "5 gallons at a dollar thirty one, is six fifty five!" "Hey wait a minute!" says I, "It will take a lot more than that. Did you fuel both tanks?" "Mister. I filled er' right to the top, dammit! come on I'll show you!" says he, bounding out the door into the intense heat, all pissed off at me about questioning his fueling abilities. He's taking strides about 10 feet apart, and leaning forward to increase his over the ground speed, all the while mumbling about them "Dumb assed Californians, why do they come down here anyways!!" We get to the plane and he unscrews a wing cap and without looking he say's " I filled this here one right to the top!" Well, the fuel had equalized by then, and he turned and looked into the tank, and there was little fuel to be seen. "What did you do with it!" says he, with smoke coming out of both ears! I'm trying, without much success, to explain to him that he had only filled one of two tanks, and that the fuel had equalized between the tanks, and that now he would have to fill both wing tanks to the top to make sure I had enough fuel to get to Plainview, with a stop at Quiteque International. I met with utter furor! There was no way this guy was going to believe that I had not stolen 5 gallons of gas from the City of Childress, Texas! He was looking inside the cockpit for a hidden tank, or something to satisfy his mind that I truly was a slippery character, came out here with the express purpose of relieving the taxpayers of Childress, Texas, of some of their hard earned tax money! After great deliberation, I finally got him to fill the remaining tanks to the top and I paid him for the total amount of fuel he put into the airplane, but this mathematical genius was convinced, some how, I had gotten away with some of his fuel! He finally let me taxi out of there and I left Childress behind me, with a resolution that I would stick around, regardless of the discomfort, any time the airplane was fueled. Wayne Woollard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Percy Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "COUPERS - TECH" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 9:20 PM Subject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Ercoupe; Model 415-C; Incorrect Installation of Wing Tank Fuel Cap; ATA 2810 > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- > > > At 08:51 PM 12/19/03 -0800, William R. Bayne wrote: > > >Thanks for passing this on, Bob! > > Agreed. We all need to be reminded from time to time. > <<Much good verbiage deleted for brevity>> > > > >An Ercoupe pilot should remove and verify fuel and caps personally in each > >tank before a cross country departure or other such extended flight. > > More Correct = All Ercoupe Pilots should personally remove both wind tank > capss and verify fuel for All Flights. The header "gage" > should be activated to see that it goes up and down, and "floats" as though > something is there. Said gage should be marked > and scrutinized often in flight. > > > Marking cap fronts with paint allows in-flight verification of proper > > orientation, > > Not a bad idea, but much better to check before departure - see above. > > > >I believe the computer term "GIGO" is applicable...garbage in, garbage out. > > Like all accident reports, a grain of salt is needed. Thinking about what > happend (Thank You, Bill and Bob) does us all good. > > "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt." I flew with Opal Walker to the > 2001 Ercoupe Owners Club annual meeting in Terrell, > Texas. Our last fuel stop was Grandbury. When we were well on our way to > Terrell, I asked Opal "Does your fuel usually > ride that low?" "Nope..." Oooopies. Spent a good fifteen munutes looking > desperatly for Terrell and watching the gage descend. > On the ground, we found the fuel cap had been put half back on! Them's > expensive varments to loose. No other problems > identified. > > We went back to Roswell, New Mexico, the same way. This time, the guy at > Grandbury got that cap on completely backwards! > This time, Once-burned-twice-shy Wood here, spotted it. Opal took the > opportunity to "educate" the attendent, and we made it > back without incident. > > Moral: A safe flight is More Than no accident. Learn from each one. > > Percy in Portland > > > ========================================================================== == == > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/ > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ---- > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03 > ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
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