Gang,
Went flying for about an hour today with an estimated 1 hour of fuel plus
the 5 gallon header tank. Evidently I was slightly off on my estimate because
I "had" to use about 1 gallon out of the header tank. Not a problem but here's
the issue. The wire indicator didn't indicate the lowering fuel quantity in
the header tank until I reduced RPM and started to slow up for a decent to
pattern altitude. It was quite unnerving to see it quickly drop down to the 4
gallon mark (black magic marker). At first I thought it was a major fuel leak
until it stopped dropping.
I have noticed a slight notch in the wire where it constantly is against
the fuel cap. This notch along with the constant 110-115 mph air pressure,
must have kept the wire firmly against the hole in the gas cap, preventing it
from going down.
When the wing tank corks no longer are floating, I estimate the remaining
fuel in the wing tanks by observing the distance of the fuel to the first tank
rib, i.e. "two inches to the rib" or "one inch to the rib" (along with flying
time since the last fill up, of course). Today the fuel level was "two to
three inches to the rib". Not very scientific, but it verifies the flying
time-gallons per hour math.
Has this happend to anyone else?...and no "ribbing" please!...seems like
there should be some one liners in there someplace or perhaps coin a new phrase
"I have three rib gallons remaining" :-).
Darick
94139
