Liquid gold

‘Fuel gauges in light aircraft are only reliable when they read zero.’

Now in the fuel game it has been said that you can only have too much fuel when the aircraft is burning. In reality a pilot simply has to plan to have enough fuel on board to cover the A to B flight plus start taxi & climb, a reserve and maybe additional fuel for contingencies such as a diversion, holding, a stronger headwind than expected, a higher fuel burn than expected (maybe an unleaned engine!) and unforecast enroute and destination weather. Then there are the unexpected. An aircraft slower than planned for. This could include something as simple as having a cowl flap open or flying to a remote strip and finding that a disabled aircraft is in the middle of the single runway.

In years gone by the regulator stipulated what reserves a pilot had to carry. Then with a change of regulations came the onus being put on the pilots shoulders that a pilot simply had to carry enough fuel for the flight. Most opted for keeping the 45 minutes reserve and the additional 15% for commercial operations. At the same time CASA put out the Civil Aviation Advisory Publication, now CAAP 234-1(1), Guidelines for Aircraft Fuel Requirements. There is still Regulation 234 that says the pilot-in-command of an aircraft should take reasonable steps to ensure that the aircraft carries sufficient fuel and oil for the proposed flight.

In recent times CASA has proposed re-introducing a regulation stipulating what fuel quantities a pilot should carry. This no doubt comes about as a result of aircraft repeatedly running out of fuel in flight.

It is said that the current CAAP is not law and is advisory material only but one can see a Coroners Court with the question being asked of the pilot ‘Were you aware of CAAP 234? But you chose to ignore those recommendations and as a result we have a fatal fuel exhaustion accident!’

Always check and double check that you have adequate fuel for the flight

In the fuel useage game most flight schools send their private pilot trainees out with full fuel. If nothing else this is to try and prevent a fuel exhaustion event.

One catch here is that when that PPL becomes a CPL and goes to work for a commercial operator he will be told to carry just enough fuel to meet the basic mission requirements.

The rest of the available payload is then available for the aircraft to carry more paid-for widgets. This comes as quite a shock to our PPL holder, now a new CPL, as in the past he carried an excess of fuel, if only to ensure his own safety.

Then we have to look at the quality of the fuel and the required uplift. As we move into the era of more aircraft using Diesel or Jet A1 fuel we are going to see more events caused by the wrong brew being put into fuel tanks. It has happened already.

The fuel tanker guys are good at making sure that we get the right fluid for our aircraft but the pilot has to help. Specify Avgas or Jet A1 when ordering fuel and be present when the aircraft is refuelled in order to check both the type of fuel and the quantity.

Quantity. When refuelling it can be a good move to be present to ensure the correct amount goes into the correct tanks. If you fly long enough you will come across the situation like where you want 50 litres. So then the fuel guy puts 50 litres in each tank! Poor communication and supervision.

There are three ways of ascertaining the fuel quantity in the tanks. A dip stick, gauges and fuel records. A wooden dip stick is easier to read than a metal stick. Gauges are only accurate when they read zero. Fuel records can be good if meticulously recorded. Always use two methods to check fuel levels.

Quality. One has to be super careful with fuel quality and ensure that it has no foreign matter such as water in it. A pilot needs to get into the habit of checking the drains before the first flight of the day, after a refuel and after a rain dump. Fuel caps can and do allow water to seep into the fuel tank. One can never be too careful with regard to water in the fuel, be it Avgas or jet A1.

Safety first means that a pilot has to ensure that he has fuel in the tanks all the way to the engine shut down at the destination.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]