Time, running out of fuel and fuel gauges

"Ed H" wrote in message
. ..
Question for all: how accurate are fuel flow meters?

I have a very simple one, shows only current fuel flow, and total fuel used
since the last reset. I don't even recall what brand it is.

My experience with it is much more like Peter R.'s than John Smith's. It's
extremely accurate, and consistently predicts how much fuel will be required
to top off the tanks to less than a gallon (to within 0.5 gallon is
typical).

Pete

Pete et al
With all due respect for the modern electronics and advancements, I
guess I am just one of the soon to be gone dinosaurs and have seen all
too many occasions when the modern technology takes a vacation when you
need it most. Reliance on anything electrical with little regard for
anything else in the way of aviation aids is, to my mind, just another
example of an unexplained NTSB report in the making.
I flew for many years in remote areas without anything but common sense
and the teachings of an old CFI who was very demanding and required
that I knew our exact location at any given time, and give him the
number of gallons we'd take on at refueling. I smile to think of how
easy it would have been if we'd had GPS for an aid. We didn't even have
ADF in many regions and in many cases no accurate charts.
Lovely to have the modern technology working, but it will never replace
the human brain. The human brain is useless unless it has the proper
knowledge to work with.
My point is to not rely solely on electrical components/indications.
Fly safe
Ol S&B

S&B wrote:

My point is to not rely solely on electrical components/indications

I agree. This is why I always take along a cross country flight log
with blocks at each waypoint for estimated time of arrival and actual
time of arrival. En route, I use this log and a clock to monitor fuel
usage.

OK, so the XC log is produced by Jepp's FlightStar flight planning
software, but I could produce one by hand if I had to.

--
Peter

wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
My point is to not rely solely on electrical components/indications.

Who said anything about making the fuel flow meter one's sole source of
information with respect to fuel quantity?

Geez...take a chill pill. The correct "takeaway" here is that a) fuel flow
meters ARE useful (when properly calibrated) and b) you cannot trust any one
source of information (not even your watch) and so the more sources of
information you have available, the better (so you can cross-reference).

It's got nothing to do with being "one of the soon to be gone dinosaurs".
Other than a dinosaur who refuses to take advantage of new technology *in
addition to* their existing tools may be gone sooner rather than later, that
is.

Pete

Pete
You misread or misunderstand me. I said not to rely SOLELY on
electrical. I'm delighted to see the modern advances and electronics
and use them as often as they are available. But, I've been around a
long time and have yet to see a foolproof system. I've encountered more
than a few in-flight failures of nearly everything that can go wrong!
Fortunately I was close enough to make a landing when I had some
serious failures in flight.
BTW, what is a "takeaway"? Is that a new word that us old english major
dinosaurs have to learn? Of course I understand the meaning or intent,
I think, but have never seen it used before.
geeezzzo....chill pill?
fly safe and don't take anything for granted
Ol S&B