How much fuel do you prefer to carry?

When you fly, how much fuel do you prefer to carry? Do you just load enough
to meet the FARs? Do you like to add a fudge factor? If so, how much? Do
you prefer to fly with full tanks irrespective of the length of the flight?
Is it significantly more expensive to fly with the tanks topped off for every
flight on small aircraft, or does it not make much difference?

On Aug 9, 7:43*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
When you fly, how much fuel do you prefer to carry? *Do you just load enough
to meet the FARs? *Do you like to add a fudge factor? *If so, how much? *Do
you prefer to fly with full tanks irrespective of the length of the flight?
Is it significantly more expensive to fly with the tanks topped off for every
flight on small aircraft, or does it not make much difference?

Depending on the flight -always 10% for contingencies but often more
on long x-country up to full tanks or MAUW.

Cheers

On Aug 8, 2:43*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
When you fly, how much fuel do you prefer to carry? *Do you just load enough
to meet the FARs? *Do you like to add a fudge factor? *If so, how much? *Do
you prefer to fly with full tanks irrespective of the length of the flight?
Is it significantly more expensive to fly with the tanks topped off for every
flight on small aircraft, or does it not make much difference?

As with all things aviation... It depends.

How far am I going? More than I can go there and back (+1 hour)?
Whats the fuel situation there? Is it expensive? Is it even
available? I once did a hunting trip to the bootheel of Missouri to
an old airstrip that had no amenities. Just a runway. No building,
no phone, no fuel especially, not even a windsock. And not much
around. In that case I carried full tanks to make sure I could make
it back.

Whats the weather like? Am I likely to have to do multiple
approaches? Would an extra hour of gas (beyond FAA reqs) give me more
outs?

How much do I need to carry? 6lb/gal can mean the difference between a
230lb person and a 180lb person.

For me and my airplane its usually a matter of having it at "tabs"
which is 34 gallons versus full which is 48 gallons. I seldom go with
less than tabs. But then again don't often go with both tanks full.

The plane will fly more efficiently when it has less weight.

I haven't flown MSX enough in a while. Is weight even a factor in
performance? I know the default W&B's usually have full tanks.
Course with flight simulator you can always add more fuel
inflight. :-)

Brian
N9093K

Since my plane has rubberized bladder tanks, I always fill them before
putting the plane away.

I start looking for a place to refill when I am down to a 1 hour
reserve, though if IFR might be more conservative depending on
conditions.

bdl writes:

I haven't flown MSX enough in a while. Is weight even a factor in
performance?

(I presume you mean FSX.) Yes, weight is taken into account and has an
obvious effect on behavior and performance. In simulation, fuel costs
nothing, so I usually fly with full tanks on small aircraft. On large
aircraft I fly with several hours' more fuel than I need.

I know the default W&B's usually have full tanks.
Course with flight simulator you can always add more fuel
inflight.

That would be cheating. You can also set unlimited fuel, but that's cheating,
too. Still, fuel-exhaustion scenarios aren't that interesting to simulate so
I just load more than enough fuel for every flight.

Paul kgyy writes:

Since my plane has rubberized bladder tanks, I always fill them before
putting the plane away.

How does the type of tank influence this?

Airlines are supposedly cutting back on the amount of fuel they carry
per flight, much to the chagrin of their pilots:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...83LCgD92E77M80

The article claims it saves them about $750 per trip.

The only time you have too much fuel is when the airplane is on fire. The
type of tank is not simulated in MSFS, so you don't have to worry.

On Aug 8, 4:24*pm, bdl wrote:
On Aug 8, 2:43*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:

When you fly, how much fuel do you prefer to carry? *Do you just load enough
to meet the FARs? *Do you like to add a fudge factor? *If so, how much? *Do
you prefer to fly with full tanks irrespective of the length of the flight?
Is it significantly more expensive to fly with the tanks topped off for every
flight on small aircraft, or does it not make much difference?

As with all things aviation... It depends.

How far am I going? *More than I can go there and back (+1 hour)?
Whats the fuel situation there? *Is it expensive? *Is it even
available? *I once did a hunting trip to the bootheel of Missouri to
an old airstrip that had no amenities. *Just a runway. *No building,
no phone, no fuel especially, not even a windsock. *And not much
around. *In that case I carried full tanks to make sure I could make
it back.

Whats the weather like? *Am I likely to have to do multiple
approaches? *Would an extra hour of gas (beyond FAA reqs) give me more
outs?

How much do I need to carry? 6lb/gal can mean the difference between a
230lb person and a 180lb person.

For me and my airplane its usually a matter of having it at "tabs"
which is 34 gallons versus full which is 48 gallons. I seldom go with
less than tabs. But then again don't often go with both tanks full.

The plane will fly more efficiently when it has less weight.

I haven't flown MSX enough in a while. *Is weight even a factor in
performance? *I know the default W&B's usually have full tanks.
Course with flight simulator you can always add more fuel
inflight. *:-)

Brian
N9093K

In that we are rarely pushing gross weight in an M20J, almost always
with full tanks.We fly away half a tank, switch to the full wing, and
burn most of that. We always land while we are still cruising on that
wing, switching to the initial tank, if it has more fuel, early in the
approach. Since we burn 9 gals an hour or so at cruise, there is lots
of range available. If it's IFR and we don't have a sold gold
alternate with a total fuel burn of 45 gallons or less we are not
going. That's 4 plus hours at 150 knots, more than enough range for
nearly every mission.

How does the type of tank influence this?

The rubberized tanks can crack and start to leak if you don't keep
them full while the plane isn't being used.

Aluminum tanks are not affected by this AFAIK - never worried about it
when I had the Arrow.