Hi! Frans,
You are welcome to hear of my learning experiences my philosophy is like
landing gear up "there's those that have done it and those that will".
My insurance is to have the long range tank and as you are well aware I
therefore fly slower, but I just dropped my carb needles back to where they
were fitted the spats and now fly more efficiently, I'm wishing I had done
that before our North Cape trip!
Regards
Bob H .
PS any photos yet ?
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Frans Veldman
Sent: 25 June 2013 10:56
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Use of reserve tank
--> <frans@privatepilots.nl>
On 06/25/2013 03:26 AM, Kevin Kedward wrote:
> Gentlemen , I'm stunned by this discussion. Why would you wish to go
> anywhere near running out of fuel?
I guess it is nobody's wish but it sometimes happens. That is why we have a
reserve after all, to use it when it is needed. Some of us (mostly the
frequent flyers, the people that travel long distances and explore the world
with their Europa) have had to use the reserve fuel, and that is why we have
the reserve fuel after all. Nobody has crashed.
Be happy that some people are able to describe what happens when you are low
on fuel and how to get the most out of your reserve fuel.
In my case it was at my homefield, I had radio contact with them, knew that
I could land there (with many suitable farmer fields on the way to it), with
a very accurate fuel flow sensor (and return flow sensor, no guessing
here!), fuel computer with GPS ground speed input, fuel flow and fuel level,
calibrated tank sensors with a resolution of 1 liter. It was a highly
reliable exercise in a very safe and predictable environment and I arrived
with the exact amount of fuel as calculated.
I'm happy to have had this experience, so I know that I can and know how to
actually use my reserve in the event of a genuine unforseen situation.
> This talk about
> changing from one side of the tank and guessing what is sloshing about
> in the reserve is crazy and what kills people.
No, it saves people. Maybe some day someone runs nearly out of fuel and
remembers this discussion, that you can't use the 9 liters of fuel unless
you switch back to main to retrieve the sloshed over fuel.
What't the idea of carrying around some pounds of fuel for an emergency if
you don't know how to use it when it is really needed?
Quite often the uninformed people get killed, people who never dare to
explore the limits when it is safe to do so. In this case you could get
killed because you count on having 9 liters of reserve but don't know that
in reality you can only use 4 liters of it, unless you know how to deal with
it properly. And that under no circumstance you should switch to reserve too
early and try to save some fuel in main for the landing.
> In 14 years of
> Europa flight I have had no reason to go anywhere near running out of
> fuel.
Maybe some day you will have. You are facing an unpredicted head wind over
sea with no suitable airfield for an extra fuel stop. Or you have a faulty
gasket in your carb and the engine is suddenly running rich and consuming
more fuel than expected, or the choosen airfield is suddenly closed and you
have to divert and are put in a holding pattern. Are you going to declare a
fuel emergency because you have only 20 liters of fuel left?
Why would you fly around with all this fuel if you are so sure you will
never have to use it? You probably tried to built your airplane as light as
possible, and now you are spoiling it by carrying around pounds of useless
fuel?
> How is it that some guys have to tape up the filler cap ?
> Or extract litre's of water out because it was in a shower ?
What would you do, leave the water in the tank? I'm sure that "someone"
was not amused to find the water in his tank, and I think it is fully
understandable that he from now on tapes of his fuel cap as an extra
precaution to prevent water ingress.
How can you be sure it will hever happen to you? Unless of course you keep
your airplane sheltered and only take it out on a sunny day for a trip
around the home field. Are you actually hosing over your aircraft anually
for a few hours to see whether the fuel cap is really water tight, or are
you just assuming the cap is tight and remains that way for the rest of its
life?
I'm happy that people are willing to share their experience, even if it
sounds "stupid" to some who think they are wiser than the rest of us.
I will be giving the fuel cap some more attention, thanks Bob!
Frans
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