Running dry?

In article .com,
"Michael" wrote:

Are your gauges accurate enough to reliably tell the difference between
30 minutes fuel at 60% power and empty in tyubulent air?
Will your fuel computer account for fuel that leaves via a cap that has
developed a leak?

Michael

INHO, the biggest error thet the "don't run it dry" crowd fails to grasp
is that, at the end of the flight, it is far better to have that 45
minutes of fuel in a single tank, rather than scattered among three or
four tanks totaling 45 minutes worth.

That is where a lot of fuel starvation accidents happen. Pilot gets busy
on approach, thinking he has selected a tank with enough fuel in it when
that fuel is in another tank.

They should stop being cheap *******s and just buy the damn fuel
computer. Then you know how much fuel is in each tank. You back woods
pilots worry me.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary wrote:
They should stop being cheap *******s and just buy the damn fuel
computer. Then you know how much fuel is in each tank. You back woods
pilots worry me.

I fly a 1945 Aeronca Champ. It has a single 13-gallon fuel tank that
sits above my legs on the cabin side of the firewall. If there is a
leak, I will feel it smell it.
The Champ has no electrical system, so it cannot power a computer.
I plan for 4-gallons/hour, but in actuality, it burns 3.5 to 3.75 gph.
The most fuel I have put in at one fillup was 12 gallons.

I used to have a 1946 Chief. It had one 13 gal tank in front of you
with a aux feed tank behind you. Running that tank dry would have been
a very, very bad idea. There is no guarantee that the aux tank will
drain to the main tank faster than the plane drinks at all attitudes.