Fuel selector question

wrote:
If you ever get to a situation where you are worried about fuel, you
switch to one tank and start your watch, when that tank runs dry
(engine splutters) you will have a very good idea of how much flying
time you have left. This knowlege will enable you to decide if your
chosen alternate airfield is in reach or if you neeed to start your
precautionary landing procedures (looking for a paddock etc.)


If you're worried about fuel, you don't have enough.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:
wrote:
...(looking for a paddock etc.)

If you're worried about fuel, you don't have enough.

Contrariwise, if you don't have a paddock, you aren't worried enough.



TheSmokingGnu

On Oct 5, 7:47 am, es330td wrote:
Sorry if this is dumb (I am only at 8.3 hours toward my PPL)...

In the email I got from AOPA ePilot training tips today there is a
discussion of fuel starvation that makes regular mention of the fuel
selector switch. All my flying is done in a CE172 and the first and
last time I worry about the switch is during pre-flight when I confirm
that it is on both. I fly on both and never fly any other way and to
be honest, outside of gravity flow issues when parked on an incline I
cannot think of why one would want to select one tank at a time vs
both.

If you are running on "BOTH" and there is an obstruction in a fuel
line, fuel could feed only from the other tank and you might find
yourself with fuel starvation long before you expect it. Changing
between left and right on a regular basis may let you discover such a
problem before it's an emergency. A close watch on fuel gauges and
being sensitive to heavy wing helps too.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because we fly, we envy no one.

On Oct 5, 12:09 pm, Gene Seibel wrote:
On Oct 5, 7:47 am, es330td wrote:

If you are running on "BOTH" and there is an obstruction in a fuel
line, fuel could feed only from the other tank and you might find
yourself with fuel starvation long before you expect it. Changing
between left and right on a regular basis may let you discover such a
problem before it's an emergency. A close watch on fuel gauges and
being sensitive to heavy wing helps too.

My Mooney doesn't have a both. However, its nice to know that if I
ever did run out of gas, I could always switch to the other tank and
having something left. If you run out in a C-172 on "both" you're
done.

-Robert

On 10/5/2007 4:52:53 PM, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:

However, its nice to know that if I
ever did run out of gas, I could always switch to the other tank and
having something left.

Assuming you didn't run that tank to fumes 30 minutes earlier.

--
Peter

On Oct 5, 6:50 pm, "Peter R." wrote:
On 10/5/2007 4:52:53 PM, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:

However, its nice to know that if I
ever did run out of gas, I could always switch to the other tank and
having something left.

Assuming you didn't run that tank to fumes 30 minutes earlier.

If that was the case I'd have been on the ground 30 minutes earlier. I
don't have to be told twice

-Robert

Gene Seibel wrote:
If you are running on "BOTH" and there is an obstruction in a fuel
line, fuel could feed only from the other tank and you might find
yourself with fuel starvation long before you expect it. Changing
between left and right on a regular basis may let you discover such a
problem before it's an emergency. A close watch on fuel gauges and
being sensitive to heavy wing helps too.

In a similar vein, I was reading recently (I think on the AOPA site) about
a poor slob in a Cessna that mistakenly left a fuel cap off. Since his
selector was on "both", the vacuum from the open hole not only drained the
tank he was using, but also sucked the fuel out of the other tank as well.
As I recall he made a successful emergency landing in a lake (floatplane),
but it wasn't big enough to fly back out of.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...ation/200710/1

On Oct 5, 3:07 pm, "JGalban via AviationKB.com" u32749@uwe wrote:
Gene Seibel wrote:
If you are running on "BOTH" and there is an obstruction in a fuel
line, fuel could feed only from the other tank and you might find
yourself with fuel starvation long before you expect it. Changing
between left and right on a regular basis may let you discover such a
problem before it's an emergency. A close watch on fuel gauges and
being sensitive to heavy wing helps too.

In a similar vein, I was reading recently (I think on the AOPA site) about
a poor slob in a Cessna that mistakenly left a fuel cap off. Since his
selector was on "both", the vacuum from the open hole not only drained the
tank he was using, but also sucked the fuel out of the other tank as well.
As I recall he made a successful emergency landing in a lake (floatplane),
but it wasn't big enough to fly back out of.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via AviationKB.comhttp://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/aviation/200710/1

I totally don't believe that. Have a link? I once had a fuel cap come
off in flight, and all it did was jettison about a quarter of the fuel
on that side. This was in a AMD Alarus, which has a really poor fuel
cap design. I'm surprised they don't come off more often.

I don't believe the vacuum is so great as to suck all the fuel out
from both tanks.