Flying a PA-28 140 from Maine to Georgia in a week end ...

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote:
All the pontification I've been reading from the purists with the totalizers
is getting to be a bit much for me. I've never flown an aircraft with a
totalizer and somehow have survived the experience.

Most of my club's planes now have totalizers. At first, I thought they
would be a great tool for more precise fuel management. Over time,
however, I've come to realize that, like many other things, they're not as
magical as you might think.

If they are correctly calibrated, they can be amazingly accurate. The
problem is, in a fleet like mine, you can never really know if they're
calibrated or not. Each unit has a "k factor" which must be determined and
programmed into the unit. If the k factor is wrong, what you've got is a
very precise random number generator. You can reset the k factor with some
combination of button presses, and you never know which of the N pilots who
flew the plane before you have finger-****ed the unit sufficiently to reset
the calibration.

The units have the potential to be a very valuable addition to the panel.
If properly interfaced with your GPS, you can get information like "how
many minutes of fuel will I have left when I reach my destination?" Of
course, that assumes that your current fuel burn rate will remain constant
for the rest of the flight, and the winds won't change, and you won't get
rerouted, etc. And that the k-factor is set right. And that you've
mastered the totally inscrutable user interface sufficiently to have set
the starting fuel quantity correctly.