"Jay Honeck" wrote in message True, it diminishes
performance slightly, but (unless we're on fire) we
feel you can't have too much fuel on board...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

Carrying around 300 pounds of extra weight in Iowa (is the "Field of Dreams"
still there?) may be OK, but it will (and does)KILL you in some of the
mountain strips in the west. I forget the exact mathematical relationship
between weight and T/O performance, but weight makes a HUGE difference and
is the easiest to control. I am forever going into Idaho's strips with 1.5
hours of fuel because of density altitude. It just makes a few more fuel
stops necessary.

When you finally come out west you and Mary should stop here on the way.
Flight plan to land here with 1.5 hrs gas.
http://www.ruralnetwork.net/johnsoncreek/
Your 235 would be right at home here and the grass is kept like a golf
course. They even split wood for your campfire.

I know you don't see much difference in the handling of your Cherokee, but
that's because it's tactile flying qualities are low. My Cessna isn't much
better, but reducing weight significantly improves feel. A light airplane is
not only more fun to fly, but also safer. If you REALLY, TRULY were
concerned about fuel you'd install a fuel flow transducer and connect it to
the GPS. Once calibrated, these devices are uncannily accurate.

In the jets we are required to calculate the maximum allowable takeoff
weight for every takeoff and landing, so somebody besides me must think it's
important. We use this:
http://www.ultranav.com/

Carrying around too much fuel by rote is just replacing one hazard with
another.

Karl
"Curator" N185KG