Sunglasses & sight fuel tubes

[OVEREASYGUY]

Someone I know had so much fun Sunday at the Alton Bay flyin he slacked off in paying attention to the fuel situation? he looked at his right tank sight tube several times and didn't see anything - so he assumed the tank was full. He's now wondering if those sunglasses make it harder to see the bubble?

So he landed at KLEW after a great day of flying and they fill up the right tank - it holds 23 gallons and took 23.5 gallons!! Wow how did he manage that one? It might have been me - however I'm not going to fess up on a public forum!

I regularly run a tank dry in cruise, however at that point the engine is at full power - it fires right back up when you switch tanks. When landing you'd have the power pulled back - so I'm thinking having a tank run dry at that point sure might NOT lead to an engine firing right back up once you switched to the other tank?

This is a good reason to make your standard approach to any landing strip one so you know for certain you can glide in if the engine quits.

One guy at Alton Bay came in a mile out right over the trees - I actually thought he might have an engine out for a little while - anyhow if his engine quit - that would have been a nasty spot to land - all tall trees and houses? Plus when you get down low that far out you increase the odds of some coming down on top of you?

So next time you are landing and chop the power - remember if you have to add power to get in - you are not doing it right?? The one time you screw up on fuel management - this landing technique might save your butt.
This morning I took off and landed 6 times at my house - wow was that fun!! In these times of high gas prices - this is a great way to have fun and not break the piggy bank.
Cliff in Maine

 

[cubdriver2]

Cliff, you are on your way to discovering where experience and knowledge come from buddy. 8)

 

[JP]

I sat here for a few minutes and tried to think of a good excuse for running out of gas in the normal course of events.

Couldn't think of a one.

 

[flylowslow]

I once ran out of fuel for a woman !'')

 

[Speedo]

Whatever happened to the landing checklist?

 

[Scouter]

Cliff:

The best $$$ you can spend is a JPI FS450 fuel scan. It wont help you change tanks, but they are very accurate. About 5 or 6 aviation $ units, cheaper at Sun/Fun. I wouldnt have a plane without one. I ran the Scout down to 10 gals a couple weeks ago and had more alarms and light flashing as warnings, it was great.

Jim

 

[behindpropellers]

Cliff:

The best $$$ you can spend is a JPI FS450 fuel scan. It wont help you change tanks, but they are very accurate. About 5 or 6 aviation $ units, cheaper at Sun/Fun. I wouldnt have a plane without one. I ran the Scout down to 10 gals a couple weeks ago and had more alarms and light flashing as warnings, it was great.

Jim

Jim-

I think he would need two, one for each tank 8)

 

[Widebody]

The best $$$ you can spend is a JPI FS450 fuel scan. I wouldnt have a plane without one. Jim

My thoughts exactly. But until they put one in, everyone is a non believer.
Been as low as 2 or 3 gallons in the cub, but according to the 296 ETA
I was going to make it and did. Fueled up exactly what it said I'd burned.
I have one in the Saratoga also, coupled to the 530 it's even better. Letting me know how much more fuel is required and what my reserve will be upon arrival, along with your fuel burn and gallons left.
(Not that you can't figure all that out on your own, it's just nice)

You are never left wondering how much fuel you have and it
would be the second to last instrument removed from my dash in the Cub.

Brad

 

[ag-pilot]

instruments

Brad, What would be the first???
Running a cub out on one take even at low power settings has never been a problem for me, as soon as you switch tanks it picks right up. If your paying real close attention you will hear the engine go a touch lean most of the time and can catch it before it goes quiet. Give me a watch and a sight glass any old day over electric anything. Its almost bullet proof.
Dave

 

[Widebody]

Seeee. Dave's a non believer but he's also correct on everything he
said. I have the sight tubes marked and refer to them always as a back up. But if Dave had one for a few hours, he'd have it forever .

I better keep my Oil temp/psi.

Did you get a tan 8) .

Brad

 

[JP]

I once ran out of fuel for a woman !'')

Acceptable. Not in the "normal" course and an understandable mishap.

 

[RedEye]

I once put 47.6 gallons in the cub, but I guess thats not actually running out.....

Foolish mistake on my part. Thankful it worked out and learned from it.

 

[cubdriver2]

Re: instruments

[quote. Give me a watch and a sight glass any old day over electric anything. Its almost bullet proof.
Dave[/quote]


You and I think the same, KISS, if you get a paint stick and fill your tank up one gal at a time and mark it off on the stick, you can stick the tank before flying and see whats left. It works every time, mine told me once that I would run out of gas, but I thought that the silly stick was wrong, and guess what, I ran out of gas about a mile from the airport. You would be surprised at how good of a glider pilot you become when your sphincter muscle tightens up.

Glenn

 

[badmdcnman]

A few years ago we had a retired navy petty officer (now deceased), take up flying in a 150 Cessna. He would always sticker the tanks before and after fueling. I could not understand why he would bother until one day he approached our airport board to let us know the fuel system was shorting him on fuel. Turned out he was right and the pumps had lost calibration. Made me wonder how many others had fueled by the numbers and did the math for their flight and not realized they had short gallons in their tanks. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. ..........Rod

 

[JP]

I love my paint stick. It the following pencil marks on it--Full, Half, No.

 

[cubdriver2]

Gosh, that's my problem, Mine says- Full, Half, Maybe.

Glenn