Training aircraft fuel guages

[trey kule]

Well, as far as not looking at the fuel guages, any pilot that does not do that and runs out of fuel has no excuse.

Dipping the tanks is a bit trickier. For pilots that are moving on to commercial licenses, they will soon find that they are flying planes where you simply can not dip the tanks. So here we have a habit that now has to be ignored. and once you start ignoring part of a habit, the rest can easily follow.

We also hear most unusual stories of planes that have twice the book fuel burn , which in 40 plus years of flying I have never seen even close to that , and even then it is more about not knowing how to use a mixture control and proper power setting. Not saying it never happened, but I think it is very very rare. Same goes for all that nonnsense of leaky tanks etc. Quite frankly this all sounds like FTU. 300 hr, class 4 intructor talk, but that is just my opinion.

So let me keep it simple.
1.You have to have a very good idea of your actual fuel usage on the plane you are flying
2. You have to do proper flight planning, taking into consideration , wind, route, possible deviations, or contingencies, and plan your fuel burn properly
3. You have to have a way to confidently verify you have the proper amt of fuel on board and actually verify it.
4. If things dont seem to be working out well, you forgot wishing and hoping, and plan to get on the ground before things become quiet.....BTW..That 1/4 tank fuel guage warning someone posted...Not a good way at all. There are much bettter ways for small aircraft pilots to plan contingency.

[Shiny Side Up]

Dipping the tanks is a bit trickier. For pilots that are moving on to commercial licenses, they will soon find that they are flying planes where you simply can not dip the tanks. So here we have a habit that now has to be ignored. and once you start ignoring part of a habit, the rest can easily follow.

Not necessarily, but then here's where the real intent of the excersise has often been diverged from. When "dipping the tanks" and checking the guages what we really are trying to stress is the pilot's responsibility to ensure the aircraft is ready for flight. If you could use some sort of X-ray vision to see the fuel inside, then hell, you better be doing it. "Dipping the tanks" could be extended to include all sorts of activities right from using that arcane device that Diamond gives you to measure fuel quantity, checking your fuel manifest, your fuel bill, supervising the actual fuelling and anything else that might go along with the process of you knowing how much you have in the airplane.

If anythng the flight instruction world is making the mistake doing, its focusing on the details of the process, rather than getting the point across about the overarcing purpose.

[trey kule]

I agree with you totally. My point was that once you begin deviating from a process a bit, it is kind of like being a little bit pregnant. Soon the whole thing blows up.

The problem, and I think it is a problem from what I have seen, is the majority of instructors really have no experience outside the FTU envioroment, so they repeat what they were taught, and on and on it goes. Additionally FTU's are (or used to be) filled with smart ass one liners for everything, and that virtually eliminated understanding. Particularily when the smart ass comments are not correct. Now they seem to have regs into it, and the regs have morphed into the regs plus "granny" fuel or a "maybe we will have a contingency", contingency fuel.
The only time you can have to much fuel in the tanks is when the aircraft is on fire...Pure BS.
In the real world outside the FTU, full tanks on many operations are a rarity. Try telling your boss you can only take one person on that 15 min trip because the plane is grossed out having had 5 hours fuel uplifted. I am sure he will agree with you that you cant have to much fuel on board....and hope the airline that is flying you to your next job goes with full tanks.
What has to happen, and I have been harping at this for years, is that FTU's have to start teaching fuel management properly. And, for the most part they are going to have to start with their own instructional staff.

[nutbutter]

I recently overheard a discussion between a Instructor (Class 4 ) and his CPL student. I regret to inform the Avcanada reading audience that the contents of this conversation has resulted in an uncontrollable desire on my part to rant on the training forum. So consider yourself warned.

The seminal part of the conversation was the statement from the instructor that he "should always just ignore the inoperative fuel guage as everyone just ignores them anyway and even when they are working they always lie. Fill her up and we will be good to go "

I have a few problems with this statement.

1) Operating fuel guages are mandated by both a specific CAR's regulation (527.1337) and as a "required" item on the aircraft equipment list of all commonly used training aircraft. Therefore flying an aircraft without working fuel guages is illegal as both a violation of the specific CAR on fuel guages and the fact that an aircraft does not have a valid C of A when a "required" item in the equipment list is not present or functioning.

2) Fuel gauges in light aircraft are required to be calibrated to zero or empty every year. That means when the gauge reads "E" it means the tank is indeed empty. If you see this in flight you had better have a plan B.

3) Contrary to urban myth light aircraft gauges are not useless, but as a general rule they are less accurate with fuller tank quantities. My experience is that the gauges are actually quite accurate when indicating around 1/3 or less and any reading of less than 1/4 is something you should respect.

4) The usefulness of fuel gauges can be greatly improved if the gauge reading is compared to the dip stick on every walk around.

5) In the fantasy land of FTU operations all the trips are short and you can just fill the B*itch up. Unfortunately when the CPL gets their first job they will find out that they will almost never get to top off fuel tanks and fuel planning becomes really important because the boss wants you to maximize the payload by carrying the minimum safe fuel load. Figuring out block fuel burns and knowing what the gauges are really telling you and when to believe them matters when you are flying the line.

I teach all my students the following.

A) Snag fuel gauges that do not work.

B) Always compare the dip stick reading with what the gauges say when doing the walk around.

C) The fuel selector and the fuel gauges are connected for checklist purposes. When ever you check the fuel selector position you also check the fuel gauges and vice versa.

D) Respect low fuel gauge readings. You should never be surprised by what the gauge is saying.

E) The vast majority of light aircraft have electrically powered fuel gauges. An unexpected sudden E reading on both gauges probably means that the CB/fuse has blown. Another clue is that in the event of a electrical power interruption fuel gauges will show below E as the needle moves further than the scale. A needle actually sitting on the E or zero likely is indeed showing no fuel.

This should be posted on every bulletin board at every flight school in North America. Good rant sir!