That's absurd -- anyone who relies on fuel gauges is an off-field landing
waiting to happen.

Some people who don't know how well their fuel gauges are working are
also an off-field landing waiting to happen. So you don't know how good
your fuel gauges are, so ignore them - then one day, for whatever
reason, you have a fuel leak or similar problem - and your watch says
you have 1.5 hours remaining, but you really have five minutes
remaining. If I own a plane, I damned well make sure the fuel gauges
work. I want them in my cross check. Working fuel gauges can tell you
that there's a problem.

A very good point, and one that I assumed was implicitly understood but --
given the fact that we're cross-posting in the student forum -- should be
clearly stated.

Our gauges happen to be remarkably accurate in all flight regimes, and at
all fuel levels. We watch them carefully -- but always time our fuel AND
have a fuel totalizer AND refuel every time we push the plane in the hangar.
To say we're anal about fuel management would not be an exaggeration.

In my plane, it can take 10 to 12 seconds for fuel to feed from one of
our
tip tanks. If I ran a main tank dry, the prop stopped

If you don't have an autofeathering prop, how will it stop?

I suppose you could get too slow to keep the prop turning, although I've not
tested this "theory" in flight, for obvious reasons.

I've read of this happening to pilots (admittedly in Cubs)...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"