"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...
Got the ship preflighted ok and then had to wait for fuel for about 20
minutes. Sure wish we'd get our own fuel truck soon...


I spend a few thousand a month where I'm based and have very little patience
for
fueling delays too, but you gotta give the ramp dudes a break because their
job
get really crappy when theres half a dozen pop-up fuel orders from irritated
pilots
who all believe their flight has priority.

After a while you'll figure out that its a good idea to call the FBO before
you leave the
house and tell them to "have NXXX fueled and ready for a XX:XX departure."
Using unusual minute figures like "08:20" seems to work better because then
they might
believe that the departure time is not arbitrary. Most FBO's respond well
to instructions of
this kind. This might be difficult for you to do in the training
environment, but you can also
tell the school that you'd prefer not having your time wasted and phone the
fueling
instructions into them instead.

I always call in the fueling instructions once I land and am waiting for the
cool down
interval. This practice has its downside because I have to guess about how
much
fuel/available weight I'll need for the next flight. (Checking your other
fluid levels during
a brief postflight is a really good idea too, it'll save you a bunch of time
someday.)

Bart