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Kim asked: > How do I tell how much gas was in the plane? The former > owner flew it down and parked it. My instructor's a big guy > and we decided to fly with less than full tanks, but had a hell > of a time figuring what was left in the tanks. Thoughts? Kim, Compliments on being careful about this. Some of the models have a fuel gauge in the wall of the cockpit - if you have one, calibrate it by emptying the tanks and filling them one or two gallons at a time then noting the fuel level. If there's no fuel gauge in the cabin wall, then you may want a float gauge in the wing tank. Use the same method to calibrate it. With both gauges, you'll note that there's a lot of fuel left in the wing tanks after your gauge bottoms out. KNOW that amount! Determine your fuel consumption at high speed cruise near sea level and use that to keep track of fuel remaining in the main tanks so you'll know about when the mains run dry. Most of us never use any of the fuel in the nose tank - we keep it all as a reserve. It's a full hour at high speed cruise and almost two hours at low speed mush. KNOW your fuel consumption numbers. Figuring these things out lets you play (really, BE) a test pilot doing the same kind of stuff as the guys at Edwards but doing it for the safety of your own skin. Drain the nose tank via the valve on the gascolator. Fill it one gallon at a time using the fuel hose of the FBO for (supposedly) really accurate numbers. Note how many gallons you have before the nose tank float gauge comes off the bottom, usually 2-3 gallons or so. Then, measure from there to the top, a gallon at a time, marking the glass tube (if you have one) for each gallon. Make a really firm resolution to get on the ground before the float gauge wire gets to the bottom of its travel. For measuring the wing tank level, some people use a glass or plastic (fuel resistant) tube which they calibrate during the fill/calibrate cycle. Hold the tube on the down (inner) side of the filler hole and hold it vertically when you measure the level. Due to the tilt of the tank in the wing, there's still some number of gallons left when the dip tube comes up dry. Measure both wing tanks with the dip tube (if that's what you're using) and average the results unless the ramp is perfectly level, left to right. An alternate method of calibrating the tanks is to fill them completely and have super-clean recepticals to drain the fuel into. Accurately measure the fuel as you drain it and make your calibration marks or notes appropriately. The tank calibration provides an entertaining :-( hour or two on a nice sunny day. But what you learn is really valuable, especially if you need to fly with partial fuel due to weight considerations, such as in your lessons. When you go for a checkride, having rigorously calibrated numbers and methods will look good to the examiner. How's that for a simple answer? Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???") ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
