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Old September 24th 06, 01:07 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.student
Steve Foley[_2_]
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Posts: 171
Default Fuel tank balance

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
In article xwhRg.1082$Rp3.261@dukeread12, "new_CFI"
wrote:

as far as left/right/both/off, normaly you set it on both and forget it.
some planes have left/right/off, I alternate every 15 min.


Every 15 minutes? That seems a bit excessive. Once an hour should keep
things pretty much in balance. If you want to get fancy, do your first
switch after a half hour, then every hour after that.



I switch every 1/2 hour, on the 1/2 hour. I burn from the left tank when the
minute hand is on the left side of the clock (30 - 59 minutes past the
hour), and the right tank when the minute hand is on the right side of the
clock (0 - 29 minutes past the hour). That way I can tell by looking if I
remembered to switch tanks.

The least I've ever landed with was 14 gallons (out of 50). That was 2 legs.