Flying a PA-28 140 from Maine to Georgia in a week end ...

A Cub with 12 gallons total fuel capacity and 70 mph average
ground speed has a maximum range of about 210 miles. It
needs a 30 minute reserve by law so cut that to 180 miles.
On a local flight 8 gallons might be enough. On a
cross-country, all twelve gallons should be carried.

A Bonanza with 74 gallons usable fuel burns 12-16 gph and
has a speed in the 150-170 knot range. It can carry as many
as 6 persons, but not with full fuel. It can fly c-x
comfortably with 50 galloons of fuel, IFR and have enough
for a 250-300 nm trip with a 75 mile alternate, carrying a
good payload. Or it can carry full fuel and fly maybe 600
miles with an alternate.

The bigger the airplane the more trade-offs need to be made
to get safe, legal utility from the airplane. Weather,
traffic, airport delays, ATC and TSA all can conspire to
require more fuel or cut short a trip. Having the tanks
full may mean you can't carry the payload that unexpectedly
is on the ramp.

Can you de-fuel easily, can you sump the tanks easily?


"Neil Gould" wrote in message
. net...
| Recently, M posted:
|
| So how many people here have taken off in a ASEL without
full tanks?
|
| What's so unusual about that? If you know you won't need
the fuel, why
| carry it?
|
| Neil
|
|

In article . com,
"M" wrote:

So how many people here have taken off in a ASEL without full tanks?

I have. I fly a Cherokee Six 300. It has four tanks; 2x25 gal mains and
2x17 gal tips.
The mains have tabs that indicate 18 gal.
Your play with the loading and w/b to determine how much fuel to load.
You fly with fuel to the tabs in the mains and fill the tips.
Instead of 84 useable, you have 70 useable.
At 16-18 gph, you have five hours to dry tanks.
Filled to the tabs, you have four.
Three hours is my max bladder endurance, so I still land with one-hour
in the tanks.

And your airplane, whatever the fuel burn is, changes from flight to
flight, at the same power setting, that you can't even predict how much
fuel you burn after a 3 hour flight? That's called sloppy.

If you know you won't need the fuel, why
carry it?

.... because what hurts you is what you know, that isn't so.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

john smith wrote:
I have. I fly a Cherokee Six 300. It has four tanks; 2x25 gal mains and
2x17 gal tips. The mains have tabs that indicate 18 gal.
You play with the loading and w/b to determine how much fuel to load.
You fly with fuel to the tabs in the mains and fill the tips.
Instead of 84 useable, you have 70 useable.
At 16-18 gph, you have five hours to dry tanks.
Filled to the tabs, you have four.

Gotta love the older PA32s... I fly a T-tail Lance that'll carry over
800lb with full tanks. I've only flown at max gross once but it still
managed 500fpm climbing out of Lebanon NH. At 65% I lean to 15gph as
per the horribly accurate (!) fuel flow gauge at 120deg ROP. (John
Deakin is my guru)

Three hours is my max bladder endurance, so I still land with one-hour in the tanks.

Geez, we must be related. My GPS plots "max bladder range" waypoints
auto-magically for me : )

Recently, Jose posted:

If you know you won't need the fuel, why
carry it?

... because what hurts you is what you know, that isn't so.

When I know that I'll only be flying for an hour, I actually prefer the
fuel to be "at the tabs" rather than full. So far, that's worked out just
fine.

Neil

Neil Gould wrote:
When I know that I'll only be flying for an hour, I actually prefer the
fuel to be "at the tabs" rather than full. So far, that's worked out just
fine.


That makes perfect sense. You're starting with a known quantity of fuel, and
you still have way more than you need. I'd do that too, in that situation.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

Mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

One hour in the fuel tanks, zero reserve in the bladder! So you fly
down to minimums, can't see the runway environment, and have to fly the
miss. Oh oh!!!!

Those few times I carry 4 people I know -- make that I KNOW -- three
hour legs are plenty long enough. I carry a supply of 1 quart zip lock
bags for those who get motion sick (rarely used) or for the male
members who need frequent rest stops. For some reason those women who
risk their lives in a SEL seem to have about the same endurance as the
PIC. Go figure.






On Dec 27, 10:39 am, john smith wrote:
In article . com,

"M" wrote:
So how many people here have taken off in a ASEL without full tanks?I have. I fly a Cherokee Six 300. It has four tanks; 2x25 gal mains and
2x17 gal tips.
The mains have tabs that indicate 18 gal.
Your play with the loading and w/b to determine how much fuel to load.
You fly with fuel to the tabs in the mains and fill the tips.
Instead of 84 useable, you have 70 useable.
At 16-18 gph, you have five hours to dry tanks.
Filled to the tabs, you have four.
Three hours is my max bladder endurance, so I still land with one-hour
in the tanks.



And your airplane, whatever the fuel burn is, changes from flight to
flight, at the same power setting, that you can't even predict how much
fuel you burn after a 3 hour flight? That's called sloppy.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Tony wrote:
One hour in the fuel tanks, zero reserve in the bladder! So you fly
down to minimums, can't see the runway environment, and have to fly the
miss. Oh oh!!!!

Those few times I carry 4 people I know -- make that I KNOW -- three
hour legs are plenty long enough. I carry a supply of 1 quart zip lock
bags for those who get motion sick (rarely used) or for the male
members who need frequent rest stops. For some reason those women who
risk their lives in a SEL seem to have about the same endurance as the
PIC. Go figure.

No, it is just that most women would wet their pants before peeing in a
baggy in front of men! :-)

Matt

So how many people here have taken off in a ASEL without full tanks?

For most flying situations, I don't have a choice but to take off with
less than full tanks.
---
Ken Reed
M20M, N9124X

--
Ken Reed
M20M, N9124X

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:18:33 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

In article . com,
"M" wrote:

So how many people here have taken off in a ASEL without full tanks?

I prefer to empty my tanks before taking off. It generally makes the rest
of the flight more enjoyable.


Plus less weight=more airspeed
Daveb