I know if it's at all bumpy and the tanks are anything below full, my gages
are useless. They swing all over the place. Why can't they be damped like
car gages? I suppose they would stay pinned at 0 when the tank was actually
empty.

Barring leaks, I trust my timers. Between 3 and 5 thousand feet at 2200 rpm
I get 2 hours 28 minutes and change out of each tank. I can get another 6 or
7 minutes by slipping with the empty tank on the high side. I also know that
I really have to rock all the bubbles out of the tanks to get the full 18
gallons in each.

mike regish

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
. ..

"mike regish" wrote in message
news:R%xtb.161414$275.497496@attbi_s53...
Two watches will do that. Or a double timer like I use.

There are a number of reasons why you might be using fuel FASTER than you
are timing it. Let me tell you a few stories.

A few years ago we got the Navion back from annual. The IA had signed
off on it, and
another A&P, Margy, and I put the plane back together. The A&P and I
took it up for a
test flight and after immediately opened her up to inspect for leaks and
all looked good.
The next morning we take off for Oshkosh with Margy in the left seat.
She's negotiating
with Approach for FF and a Class B clearance. I'm looking at the fuel
guage and thinking
"I'm pretty sure I topped the thing off, but we're down gas." I tell
Margy and I tell I'll keep
an eye on it. As it is, we've got over 80 gallons left on board. The
downward trend continues.
Just at this time approach calls back with oru clearance. We're about
midway between
two airports, we tell Dulles that we're going to Leesburg, they offer
assistance.

Get down on the ground, find a mechanic, find that a fuel line is loose
and spraying fuel
all over the inside of the engine compartment. I do a quick calculation
and determine that
we have used 20 gallons in a 20 minute flight. That is 60 GPH!

Another long time rec.aviator put his Cardinal down on a road because he
ran out of fuel
due to a higher than predicted fuel burn. Was found that his carburator
was leaking.

Another rec.aviator ran out of fuel IFR. Nobody yet knows what happened,
but he ran
out way ahead of what preflight planning predicted.

****ty as your average light plane fuel guages are, they are NOT
superfluous.