Fuel dip tube for Piper Warrior?

Is there a fuel dip tube available for the Piper Warrior II
(specifically, pa28-161)? When I flew the 172 I used a fuelhawk dip
tube to measure how much fuel I had. In the warrior there are tabs in
each tank at 17 gals but other than that it seems like guesswork. I
sure would like to find a way to more precisely measure the fuel aboard.
I searched google but could not find anything.

This is triggered because last weekend I told a Signature FBO to fill
the tanks up "to the tabs." The lineman topped the tank off and I had
to have fuel drained before I could leave within gross. This isn't the
first time that has happened to me. It would be much better if I could
dip the tanks and then simply say "put x gallons in left and y gallons
in right" and remove all ambiguity, guesswork, and depedency on
Signature line personell knowing what "to the tabs" means.

TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:
Is there a fuel dip tube available for the Piper Warrior II
(specifically, pa28-161)? When I flew the 172 I used a fuelhawk dip
tube to measure how much fuel I had. In the warrior there are tabs in
each tank at 17 gals but other than that it seems like guesswork. I
sure would like to find a way to more precisely measure the fuel aboard.
I searched google but could not find anything.

This is triggered because last weekend I told a Signature FBO to fill
the tanks up "to the tabs." The lineman topped the tank off and I had
to have fuel drained before I could leave within gross. This isn't the
first time that has happened to me. It would be much better if I could
dip the tanks and then simply say "put x gallons in left and y gallons
in right" and remove all ambiguity, guesswork, and depedency on
Signature line personell knowing what "to the tabs" means.

Yeah, that's a pain. I used to own an Archer that was leased to a flying club,
and the club SOPs called for filling it to the tabs. That just seemed to be too
much for some line people to handle. You have to be very specific when you give
your fuel order, make sure you say "to the tabs" several times, and then ask
whether they know what "to the tabs" means.

I have a non-model-specific measuring device like a fuelhawk. You have to
calibrate it for the airplane (or at least model) where you use it. It's been
rattling around in my flight bag for a while. If I see you at TTA, it's yours.
Guess I'm going to be hanging around TTA a little more since I just joined the
flying club there.

Respond directly to my email and tell me what it's like flying out of TTA.

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

Dave Butler wrote:

This is triggered because last weekend I told a Signature FBO to fill
the tanks up "to the tabs." The lineman topped the tank off and I had
to have fuel drained before I could leave within gross. This isn't
the first time that has happened to me. It would be much better if I
could dip the tanks and then simply say "put x gallons in left and y
gallons in right" and remove all ambiguity, guesswork, and depedency
on Signature line personell knowing what "to the tabs" means.


Yeah, that's a pain. I used to own an Archer that was leased to a flying
club, and the club SOPs called for filling it to the tabs. That just
seemed to be too much for some line people to handle. You have to be
very specific when you give your fuel order, make sure you say "to the
tabs" several times, and then ask whether they know what "to the tabs"
means.

That second part is very important. Signature even had written "to the
tabs" on my fuel order. It was because of that they did not charge me
for the draining and refunded me the 10 gallons I made them take out.
The line guy who filled it thought the "tab" was the bottom of the fuel
filler neck. The guy who did the fueling isn't the same guy who took
the order (who I think DID understand), so I'm not sure any amount of
clarifying would have helped in that case.

Guess I'm going to be hanging around TTA a little more
since I just joined the flying club there.

Welcome, I'm a member too.

Respond directly to my email and tell me what it's like flying out of TTA.

will do

Dave Butler wrote:

Respond directly to my email and tell me what it's like flying out of TTA.

Tried but you're over your hotmail storage limit. Clean out your
mailbox and repost.

TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:
: Is there a fuel dip tube available for the Piper Warrior II
: (specifically, pa28-161)?

I looked for one of these what I first got my Cherokee. I couldn't find one.
I think the dihedral in the Piper wing is to blame.

What I did was to look inside the tank, and then fuel up. I determined that
when the fuel is covering the bottom but not up the side you can see, there
was 5 gallons left, halfway up to the tab was 13 gallons, etc. I don't
remember the exact numbers anymore because the fuel gauges in my airplane
are quite accurate when sitting on the ground.
--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

xyzzy wrote:
Dave Butler wrote:

Tried but you're over your hotmail storage limit. Clean out your
mailbox and repost.

That's odd. Shouldn't be. It *is* cleaned out. Did you remove the letters
S-H-I-R-T from my return address? Sorry for the trouble. Please try again.

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

Check with Sporty's. They sell a "gerneric" dip tube called a Fuelhawk. You
can calibrate it yourself for your plane.

Best regards,

Steve Robertson
N4732J 1967 Beechcraft Musketeer (that has tabs AND slots!)

TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:

Is there a fuel dip tube available for the Piper Warrior II
(specifically, pa28-161)? When I flew the 172 I used a fuelhawk dip
tube to measure how much fuel I had. In the warrior there are tabs in
each tank at 17 gals but other than that it seems like guesswork. I
sure would like to find a way to more precisely measure the fuel aboard.
I searched google but could not find anything.

This is triggered because last weekend I told a Signature FBO to fill
the tanks up "to the tabs." The lineman topped the tank off and I had
to have fuel drained before I could leave within gross. This isn't the
first time that has happened to me. It would be much better if I could
dip the tanks and then simply say "put x gallons in left and y gallons
in right" and remove all ambiguity, guesswork, and depedency on
Signature line personell knowing what "to the tabs" means.

Years ago we wanted a fuel dipstick for our Cherokee 140. One thing we
quickly found out is that dip indications are very sensitive to the angle of
the dipstick. Tilt it a bit and reading can be off by a few gallons,
especially when below half full.

What we ended up using was an old-fashioned wooden paint stirring stick of
the sort that paint stores used to give away. I haven't seen one in years,
but you could easily fashion an equivalent from a 1" wide, 1/8" thick wooden
slat. Make sure it's long enough so that it can't accidentally slip
completely into the tank. We primed and painted the wood a solid background
color. We then drained one tank completely. (We did this after a long
flight, when there were only a few gallons in that tank. We then added
fuel, 5 gallons at a time. After each addition we dipped out wooden stick
into the tank to find the indicated level, which we marked for the
appropriate fuel quantity. Here's the trick: to get repeatable readings,
use the tab in the tank and the inside edge of the filler neck as "rests"
for the stick so that its orientation in the tank is consistent. Finally,
we painted our quantity marks on the stick in a contrasting color. We found
that the dipstick was both accurate and repeatable, and that we could easily
interpolate between the 5 gallon markings to get readings accurate to within
one gallon.

--
-Elliott Drucker

79 cents at Home Depot.

not only are they great for cherokees, but I keep a bunch around
for fiberglass repair (stirrers)

"TTA Cherokee Driver" wrote in message
...
Is there a fuel dip tube available for the Piper Warrior II
(specifically, pa28-161)?

Here's the data I used to make my dipstick (wood paint stirring stick) for
24 gallon tanks:

4= 0"
5= 1"
10= 2 1/4"
15= 4"
20= 5 3/4"
24= 7 1/4"