Flying w/faulty gas gauge

Yossarian wrote:
I understand that functional fuel gauges are required equipment for day VFR
flight. Yesterday during my preflight in a 172 I saw that the right gauge
was functioning intermittently--it would show full, flicker down to zero,
bounce around, etc. Tank was visually confirmed full. Mechanic messed
around with it for a while to no effect.

Would you fly this airplane?

Without even thinking about it.

"BTIZ" wrote in message news:niBtb.3221$Ue4.826@fed1read01...
I was once told.. that the Cessna type gauges only have to be accurate when
the tank is empty.. it should tell you so.. it does not need to be accurate
at a full or partially full tank..

You were told wrong.

"john smith" wrote in message ...
Ron Natalie wrote:
I believe certification only requires that the gauge show empty when
the tank is empty.

You keep saying this, but it's not true.

Empty... unusable... Not much difference in my book. If there is no fuel
flowing to the engine, it's empty!

People pull one cluase out of the reg. I've posted it. If you read the full
sentence people keep pulling out of their asses, you'll find that the gauges
are not any more or less accurate at empty than anywhere else.

"john smith" wrote in message
...
Ron Natalie wrote:
I believe certification only requires that the gauge show empty when
the tank is empty.

You keep saying this, but it's not true.

Empty... unusable... Not much difference in my book. If there is no fuel
flowing to the engine, it's empty!
Of course, if you know the Chinese fuel management technique, you can
extract some or all of the unusable fuel.

The regulation reads

(9) Fuel gauge indicating the quantity of fuel in each tank.

Cub Driver wrote:


I understand that functional fuel gauges are required equipment for day
VFR flight.

That probably explains why the airport owner was mulling the
possibility of replacing the cork float in Zero Six Hotel.

The only gas gauge I trust is my watch. Two hours and it's time to
look for a nice smooth field.

I agree on the trust part, the gauges in my 172 are notorious for their
inaccuracy. You didn't say whether or not you'd fly the plane but some will
interpret this as "go ahead and fly as long as you don't forget to wind
your watch".

I monitor the gauges more to catch an indication of a fuel leak rather than
for actual fuel consumption.


--
Frank....H

"Gig Giacona" wrote in message ...
]
Empty... unusable... Not much difference in my book. If there is no fuel
flowing to the engine, it's empty!
Of course, if you know the Chinese fuel management technique, you can
extract some or all of the unusable fuel.

The regulation reads

(9) Fuel gauge indicating the quantity of fuel in each tank.

23.1337 says
Fuel quantity indication. There must be a means to indicate to the flightcrew members the quantity
of usable fuel in each tank during flight. An indicator calibrated in appropriate units and clearly marked
to indicate those units must be used. In addition:
(1) Each fuel quantity indicator must be calibrated to read "zero"
during level flight when the quantity of fuel remaining in the tank is equal to the unusable fuel supply determined under
§ 23.959(a)

ArtP wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 13:40:58 -0600, "Roger Tracy"
wrote:

Yes. I go by tach time anyway and can peg fuel consumption
pretty close.

Spoken like a high winger. For us low wing types we have to know how
much fuel is in each tank. Since climb, cruise, and descent all use
different amounts of fuel it is hard to know how much is left in each
tank. Sooner or later we come to the point when the POH says switch to
the fullest tank. We need the gauges to know which one that is.

We do? I just use my watch and some scratch paper on my kneeboard.
That gives me a pretty good idea as to which tank has more fuel. The
different fuel burn in climb and descent tend to cancel each other
out. When refueling, I regularly guess the amount required to fill
each tank by 1/2 gal. I just base it all on the average cruise fuel
burn.

I'm sure someone will mention the possibility of a mechanical
problem causing a higher than normal fuel burn. To cover that, my
tank switching methodology works so that if one runs dry prematurely,
I'll still have plenty of gas in the other tank to go to an alternate.

That said, I do use my gauges when I fly, but I don't depend on
them. They're only there to alert me to a possible problem which will
be confirmed by a) one tank running out of gas earlier than expected
or b) verifiying the fuel burn at the next refueling stop.

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

Well .. if that's the standard .. I've never seen one meet it.


"Gig Giacona" wrote in message
...


The regulation reads

(9) Fuel gauge indicating the quantity of fuel in each tank.

Roger Tracy wrote:

Well .. if that's the standard .. I've never seen one meet it.

I have two in my Maule. The gauges in my old Cessna 150 were also pretty
accurate.

George Patterson
The actions taken by the New Hampshire Episcopalians (ie. inducting a gay
bishop) are an affront to Christians everywhere. I am just thankful that
the church's founder, Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon, and his
wife Anne Boleyn, and his wife Jane Seymour, and his wife Anne of Cleves,
and his wife Katherine Howard, and his wife Catherine Parr are no longer
here to suffer through this assault on traditional Christian marriages.