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#1
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30 minute reserve
Isn't this 30 *minute* reserve rule for day VFR flight a bit odd? Here
are 2 examples to illustrate why I say that. In a J3 Cub you are going to go just over 35 miles in those 30 minutes. In an RV-7, you can go 100 miles with that same 30 minutes reserve. If there is a head wind the difference is going be even greater. Both airplanes need about the same length runway, yes I know the cub can land in less space, but both need less than 1000 feet. Wouldn't a reserve rule that stated the minimum distance you could fly in calm air be a better rule? -- Chris W Gift Giving Made Easy Get the gifts you want & give the gifts they want http://thewishzone.com |
#2
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Now that is a good question.I think that the pilot needs to know his
aircraft and plan his rout according to the range and speed of his aircraft. I asked the same question after my "little" close call.That is what my instructor explained. "Chris W" wrote in message news:Uyrre.28604$rb6.27678@lakeread07... Isn't this 30 *minute* reserve rule for day VFR flight a bit odd? Here are 2 examples to illustrate why I say that. In a J3 Cub you are going to go just over 35 miles in those 30 minutes. In an RV-7, you can go 100 miles with that same 30 minutes reserve. If there is a head wind the difference is going be even greater. Both airplanes need about the same length runway, yes I know the cub can land in less space, but both need less than 1000 feet. Wouldn't a reserve rule that stated the minimum distance you could fly in calm air be a better rule? -- Chris W Gift Giving Made Easy Get the gifts you want & give the gifts they want http://thewishzone.com |
#3
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On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 02:54:28 GMT, "STEVEN SIMPSON"
wrote in EFrre.3671$1q5.2293@trnddc02:: I think that the pilot needs to know his aircraft and plan his rout according to the range and speed of his aircraft. Right. With full tanks, it's more about distance planning. I asked the same question after my "little" close call. I can see that the FAA may want to force pilots to carry some fuel reserve to compensate for their possible certification inaccuracies and the vagaries of government metrological forecasting, not to mention possible pilot flight planning errors. If there were no fuel reserve requirements at all, there would doubtless be many more fuel exhaustion incidents occurring. But the OP was referring to the dispirit airspeeds of aircraft resulting in widely varying distance capabilities as a result of the 30 minute VFR fuel reserve requirement. Perhaps the arbitrary 30 minutes doesn't concern distance to a safe landing site as much as guaranteeing 30 minutes search time for a place to set down or better weather. If the VFR fuel reserve requirement were about distance instead of time, there would be an alternate destination airport requirement as there is with IFR flight planning. |
#4
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Isn't this 30 *minute* reserve rule for day VFR flight a bit odd?
Wouldn't a reserve rule that stated the minimum distance you could fly in calm air be a better rule? Probably. But I don't see the (FAA) rules as being "the best idea", just "a minimum standard". The pilot is (rightly) called upon to apply intellegent decision making, rather than simply following rules and expecting roses. Jose -- "Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter). for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#5
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Jose wrote: Isn't this 30 *minute* reserve rule for day VFR flight a bit odd? Wouldn't a reserve rule that stated the minimum distance you could fly in calm air be a better rule? Probably. But I don't see the (FAA) rules as being "the best idea", just "a minimum standard". The pilot is (rightly) called upon to apply intellegent decision making, rather than simply following rules and expecting roses. As my ground school instructor keeps saying "Legal is not the same as safe!" Words to live by. We looked at an example last night in class of taking off in class G airspace (1 mile vis), staying under the 700 ft. class E floor, flying out to the edge and climbing up to the 1200 ft. class E floor (east of the Mississippi) droping back down to the 700 ft. class E floor on approach to another airport and calling for SVFR clearance into the class E space. All legal, but definitly not smart or safe. There are 600 + ft radio towers along the route. John 22 hour student, soloed. |
#7
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My personal minimum in the Cub is 4 gallons or 1 hour's flying time. -- all the best, Dan Ford email (put Cubdriver in subject line) Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com the blog: www.danford.net In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com |
#9
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Chris wrote:
If there is a head wind the difference is going be even greater. A truly proficient pilot will plan fuel consumption based on forecasted winds aloft for that day, any diversions needed, and then add 30 minutes (or whatever his/her personal minimums) for regulation requirements. A pilot who fuel plans with the assumption that the reserve will cover winds aloft, unexpected vectoring, and diversions around weather is a pilot who *will* experience a fuel emergency sometime during an upcoming flight. -- Peter |
#10
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On 2005-06-14, Peter R. wrote:
Chris wrote: If there is a head wind the difference is going be even greater. A truly proficient pilot will plan fuel consumption based on forecasted winds aloft for that day, any diversions needed, and then add 30 minutes (or whatever his/her personal minimums) for regulation requirements. And actually watch the fuel gauges. Instructors teaching that the fuel gauges are useless (an oft-repeated canard) are teaching dangerous rubbish. If a fuel gauge is useless it's broken and needs to be fixed. With aircraft I regularly fly, one of the things I try to do is get a handle on how the fuel gauges behave. I don't want to depend solely on time for 'how much fuel do I have left' - I want the gauges to work, or how do I tell when there's abnormal fuel consumption, or that the plane has less than the expected fuel level? The fuel gauges should be an important cross-check (along with knowing how much time is in the tanks). If the fuel gauges ever show less fuel than you expect there should be in the tank, find somewhere to land now and check it out. Don't dismiss them. I've already saved myself great embarrasment by having the fuel gauges in my cross-check (I've related the story here before) - but in brief, the gauges showed less than expected, so I landed significantly short of my intended destination to check it out. Sure enough - the fuel gauges were right - I had less fuel than I expected. Had I not been checking, I'd have landed at my intended destination on fumes, probably with about enough fuel to make a single go-around and pattern. Now I fly across water, I'm even more paranoid about it. Most ditchings happen because there was too much air in the fuel tanks! -- Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net "Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee" |
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