"Sure"?... never trust the gauges!

[beaky]

Knowing- really knowing- how much fuel you have can be a matter of life and death, as this guy found out.  Had he dipped the tanks and actually done the calculations  and still was wrong somehow, I'd be more understanding.   But...  ::)

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Pi ... 900-1.html

[FsNovice]

Thats just plain sloppy, and he deserves everything he gets for that.

[Brett_Henderson]

Egad... I'll admit that I don't "stick the tanks" before every take-off. Like a few weeks back    I took off from KOSU with full (visually inspected) tanks and flew about 45 minutes to Ashland, Ohio... and then took a passenger on a 1 hour, two take-off, round trip to Coshocton, Ohio without sticking the tanks, because there was nothing even close to questioning the range. I did however stick them before leaving from Ashland (even though the WHOLE day used up barely 1/2 the fuel.

Unless you were the last person to fuel and fly the plane.. and it has not been out of your site.. or .. If you have to even give two seconds thought when it comes to range and reserve, you had BETTER have a thumb on that plastic tube !

I suppose a "stickler" (pun intended) will tell you that you MUST stick the tanks and check the oil before every takeoff, no matter what... and it's dangerous to argue with that advice... but it's not reality. If I fly to Urbana tomorrow (1 hour round trip) for burger.. I'll stick the tanks and check the oil before leaving, but I won't for the return leg, unless there's something to arouse my suspicion...  i.e... low oil pressure or raw fuel fumes.

[beaky]

Egad... I'll admit that I don't "stick the tanks" before every take-off. Like a few weeks back    I took off from KOSU with full (visually inspected) tanks and flew about 45 minutes to Ashland, Ohio... and then took a passenger on a 1 hour, two take-off, round trip to Coshocton, Ohio without sticking the tanks, because there was nothing even close to questioning the range. I did however stick them before leaving from Ashland (even though the WHOLE day used up barely 1/2 the fuel.

Unless you were the last person to fuel and fly the plane.. and it has not been out of your site.. or .. If you have to even give two seconds thought when it comes to range and reserve, you had BETTER have a thumb on that plastic tube !

I suppose a "stickler" (pun intended) will tell you that you MUST stick the tanks and check the oil before every takeoff, no matter what... and it's dangerous to argue with that advice... but it's not reality. If I fly to Urbana tomorrow (1 hour round trip) for burger.. I'll stick the tanks and check the oil before leaving, but I won't for the return leg, unless there's something to arouse my suspicion...  i.e... low oil pressure or raw fuel fumes.

Who the hell would be crazy enough to fly with you when you didn't stick the the- oh, right.

I sorta stuck my mouth in my foot (I mean- oh never mind) again: a visual check that shows fuel at least to the tabs is good enough for me, certainly, even for a round-robin or whatever.
 Unless Ihave even the slightest reason to think I might get near depletion during the day's flying... which of course you didn't. You and I know a good rule of thumb for Skyhawks is about 8 gph with a gallon for each takeoff and landing with back-taxiing. Conservative, but a good workable rule of thumb that generally is sufficient. . Better than shrugging and not even peering into the tanks!!
I rarely fly that many hours in a day, so I rarely check the fuel for the RT, although as you say, you can't say there's a good reason NOT to, as it only takes a minute.

You did the important thing (which this guy did not): you measured the fuel when you first got the plane for the day. Still can't believe a working commercial pilot would skip that- and then actually look at those gauges as if they meant something!!    ::)

This topic reminds me of another rule of thumb I have: unless I'm not leaving the pattern, which usually means 1-2 hrs of practice, I fill 'er up. Even if my planned flight is half the estimated endurance, one never knows...I know to-the-last-drop flight-planning can be done if you know what you're doing, but it's not for me. Fuel is "extra" weight I will happily carry. And for long legs, I plan a one hour VFR reserve, night or day.

[Brett_Henderson]

Same with me.. as far as filling it up (my visual inspection followed a fill-up). Unless I know the flight, because of loading, will require less than full tanks, I'll top'em off, too. Besides, a C172 with 1/2 or less fuel and just a pilot, is a squirrely bugger  :)

[Mobius]

Personally, I've never sticked the tanks.  Frankly, I have no idea how to do it, and I've never been taught about it, or had an instructor mention it.  Usually, I'll visually check the tanks and the gauges to make sure they're not completely different, and if they're not full, I'll get them filled, because it's usually just me and one other person flying, and that load, we can fly for 5.5 hours on full tanks.  It's one of the stupid things I do, and I'll admit it, but since I always fly with full tanks, and I really have never flown more than four hours (VFR) without refueling, I've never had a real problem.  But with my instrument rating (next week hopefully), I'll probably be flying closer to the legal fuel requirements, so I'll have to learn soon...

[Brett_Henderson]

Here's a crash course in "sticking"... Because the time WILL come when you've got three people flying with you on a hot, summer day and you'll need to know EXACTLY how much fuel you have in each tank; both when you take-off, and are refueling en-route.

The plane should have a graduated cylinder (kinda like a big straw) on board, and there should be a conversion chart for THAT specific plane.

Stick the stick ..lol.. straight down the center of the filler opening (let it dangle first, like a plumb twixt thumb/forefinger). Insert it SLOWLY until it hits bottom and then firmly seal the top with your thumb and draw it up SMOOTHLY for a reading (if you insert it too quickly and put your thumb on it too early, you'll get an innacurate reading). Do this a few times to make sure you're getting consistent results.




It's not a linear thing. The first (bottom) few markings are different than the top few, and they're both smaller than the middle markings. This chart exagerates that a little to make the point.. because too many people just use a ,

[beaky]

Well-done, BH (and man, that beard grew quickly!)...but to add top it:
 "Specific airplane" is very important: not all C172 tanks are the same; always make sure your stick matches your model of C172.

Another good reason for "sticking" if you know the tanks are not full is to confirm how much is in each (because the gauges LIE; even brand-new ones): the last person who flew it may have done some uncoordinated flying or even selected one tank for a while, and you may feel you should add a bit to one side or maybe do your taxi and runup with the more-full tank selected, etc.
Not always critical to have equal amounts in both tanks, but it helps.

[Mobius]

Ahhh, extrememly helpful, thanks.  I was starting to wonder where people would find all these sticks out on the ramp, especially if there's no trees around...