Comments on: Fuel – a necessary commodity – Really!

By: juicing recipes for juicers

juicing recipes for juicers — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:15:35 +0000

Nice blog here! Also your site loads up fast!

What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol

By: tammy

tammy — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:54:03 +0000

I really liked your blog! i read 4 others that are on similar subjets, but they domt update very often, thanks.

By: Nick Miller

Nick Miller — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:49:12 +0000

Years ago when I was a somewhat new AH-iS Cobra pilot-in-command (PIC), flying on a Saturday moring for our local guard unit, we started out on a decent single aircraft three leg cross country training flight. My front seater co-pilot, also a newly minted PIC (both old timer Vietnam veteran Huey pilots) and I settled in for a nice X-C looking forward to a senic lunch, then return fuel stop and then back home. Weather reports indicated southerly winds aiding our Northerly progress (names & places left out to protect the guilty), however my E-6B calculations seemed to indicate lower than anticipated ground speed. At 120 kts indicated, we had perhaps 85-95 kts ground speed. I called my frount seater’s attention to the situation, transfered controls and he got the same results. We recomputed fuel burn called FS for updated WX, reported the winds (they were surprised, but agreed the Northerly winds should help with our Southerly return flight for fuel, so we pushed on (first mistake as we seriously discussed turning toward from our no-fuel available first destination for the second fuel available destination at that point, but lunch was on our minds so we pushed on). Arrived at our destination, flew standard pattern etc., and had an enjoyable lunch. Flew standard departure (By the way my front seater and I had individually checked WX by land line with the same results…)

Then life got interesting. On the second Southerly return for fuel leg, the winds were now from the South (as originally forcast)!. Seems the occluded frontal passage was making mush of forcast winds, but we were now committed and pressed on, E-6Bs indicating the same dismal ground speeds along the way. It began to look grim as soon the dreaded 20 minute fuel warning light blinked than settled down into a steady bright amber glow (last time was ’69 in a hot LZ picking up a shot down Loach crew-had five minutes indicated at the nearest LZ refueling blivet!). Finally at 12 minutes into the 20 minute light-who knows how accurate that might be), I asked my also sweating front seater, to find us a airfield, now! We landed at a local airstrip, checked the fuel pump area, no way we could risk hovering into that congested pump without blowing over several C-150s and fuell shack & flight ops building, so we called ahead to our destination (only 50 miles away!), confessed and called for help. About an hour later we got a 50 gallon drum of Jet-A delevered, made a quick departure, hit the fuel stop destination, topped off, and headed back to the ranch to our waiting and irrate flight operations guys that I also had confessed to earlier. Lesson: it can happen to you! Always, always make the coservative decision and stick to it. Don’t let circumstances lead you into the corner. It can hurt! By the way, I avoided hearing my master aviator wings being wripped from my flight suit – barely! More importantly, we avoided wrecking a beautiful machine-barely!

By: Ron Thompson

Ron Thompson — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:23:00 +0000

One hour feels fine in a Mooney M-20c. Maybe 1+15 in smoke, dirt, or weather. Thanks, Guys.

By: Robert J. "Bob" McCormick.

Robert J. "Bob" McCormick. — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:41:52 +0000

Bruce, I have not (yet) read all these comments; but, I read your brochure regarding fuel. One comment stood out about the Cessna 150 (also applies to many other similar aircraft) and about it’s fuel system being “easy”. I demonstrate to my students how easy it is to get tripped up by reliance on the 30 minute reserve. “ONE HOUR absolute minimum fuel” is my philosophy. The demonstration I perform is fueling the aircraft with the fuel valve in the on position. We have often shown that after fueling one tank, then moving the ladder, hose etc. to the other tank, sufficient time has elapsed to lose some fuel from the first tank, to the second tank. This amount of fuel transfer is often on the order of 3 gallons. 3 gallons is very close to the total reserve fuel. When departing on a cross country flight in these aircraft, always have the fuel valve in the off position when fueling AND check both tanks again after fueling. Of course, remember to place the fuel valve back in the on position. I have lost fuel from a 152 when parking it on an incline with the left wing low. Fuel will transfer and be lost from the overflow. The clock is king, most of the time; but, knowledge of the fuel system is essential as well as being timewise. Keep up the good work.

By: Alan Malone

Alan Malone — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:49:05 +0000

MY PRACTICE IS TO DIVIDE THE NUMBER OF MILES I INTEND TO FLY BY THE AMOUNT OF FUEL I’M CARRYING (IN HOURS), NOT INCLUDING MY HOUR OF RESERVE FUEL. THE RESULT GIVES ME THE MINIMUM AVERAGE GOUND SPEED I HAVE TO MAKE GOOD, IN ORDER TO LAND WITH MY DESIRED RESERVE. AS AN EXAMPLE, IF I HAD A LEG OF 420 NM, I’D DIVIDE THAT BY 3.3 HOURS ( THE AMOUNT OF FUEL I CARRY, MINUS ONE HOUR OF RESERVE) THAT WOULD YIELD A NECESSARY AVERAGE GROUND SPEED OF ABOUT 128 KNOTS, WHICH MIGHT BE DOABLE WITH A BIT OF HELP FROM THE WIND, BUT WHICH I WOULD WANT TO MONITOR CAREFULLY. I’D CERTAINLY PLAN ON A “PLAN B” AIRPORT WHERE I COULD REFUEL IF MY AVERAGE GROUND SPEED STARTED TO DROP BELOW 128 KNOTS. IF THE AVERAGE CAME OUT TO SOMETHING RIDICULOUS (FOR MY 172) LIKE 170 KNOTS, IT WOULD ALERT ME THAT A NON-STOP FLIGHT WOULD NOT WORK.

By: safety signs

safety signs — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:27:35 +0000

safety signs…

I have to admit that anything to do with ghosts and hauntings and…

By: joebagodoughnutz

joebagodoughnutz — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:05:00 +0000

I’ve been flying for almost 22 years. I’m a former Regional Airline Pilot and a current CFII and pilot for the US Government. I’ve never had a serious incident with fuel mismanagement, however, I did have an incident when I was a newly minted private pilot flying a Cherokee 140.

On the 140 you’re instructed to switch tanks when you’ve flown on one for an hour. I decided to be a test pilot and not do as the manufacturer instructs. When I pulled the power back for landing, there was an uncommanded roll due to the fuel imbalance in the wings. I added power to get more authority and made and uneventful power on landing.

I believe that incident made me smart about managing fuel. As the saying goes, good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement.

By: Dave N.

Dave N. — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:44:01 +0000

Most very careful pilots have higher fuel minimums than the FAA advises….like 1 hr reserve for VFR and 1.5 hr IFR. They know they’ll never come up short if they adhere to these. Same thing applies to landing minimums….mine own are much more conservative then the FAA allows.
DN

By: Alan Jenner

Alan Jenner — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:33:50 +0000

The closest I ever came to fuel exhaustion was on the top of the Interstate 10 Bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA. I coasted into a service station at the bottom of the bridge in Port Allen, LA and the looks that I got from the people around the pumps were an embarrassment…. But not as embarassing if I were in a rental from Louisiana Aircraft over at BTR.