Flying with fuel leak?

Roger Long wrote:

If you knew that the pipe
that was intended to conduct overflow fuel from the tank to the ground was
sending it somewhere else in your Mooney or Maule, would you keep flying it?

If the vents to a tank become plugged on a Maule, the fuel will vent into the
wing and come out the flap area - at least, it will when the plane is on the
ground. Now. That does require that two conditions be met. 1) you have to
fill the tank to within 1.5" of the filler tube, and 2) something has to plug
the vent.

The vents are 1/8" tubing. There's a type of insect (probably a dirt dauber)
that thinks these are just perfect recepticles for eggs. When the larva gets
big enough, you have a blocked tube with no external signs.

I discovered this when I put too much fuel in one tank at Oneonta, NY. I flew
home. Cleared out the tube (I thought). The larva got big enough to completely
block the tube returning from Oshkosh that year. That resulted in an unscheduled
fuel stop and more work on the vents.

So, yes, I keep flying and fix it when possible. On the other hand, I don't have
electric flaps.

George Patterson
The British drink warm beer because they all own Lucas refrigerators.