What is your fuel minimum?

[laytonl]

16 gallons is my minimum and the level is determined from the most pessimistic reading from either the fuel gauges, wing gauges, or JPI.  Whichever has the lowest reading makes the the decision.  Lee

[bradp]

On 5/23/2017 at 1:36 PM, gsxrpilot said:

Best way to calibrate your stick is to dip the tanks before every fill up, note the level, how many gal added, a little math, and note the fuel remaining on the stick. The more you fly, the more marks you get on the stick and pretty soon you have a well calibrated fuel stick.

I guess by deduction you also figure out what your personal fuel minimums are... whatever the lowest number on the stick reads.

I'm a fuel ninny.  With rare exception the airport I fly to have long and wide runways, and are on the east coast.  So performance considerations are secondary to the type of flying I do, which is entirely long cross country flights.  I'd rather have fuel options at the end of the trip, so I tend to top off.  I like to store the plane with at least half to three quarter tanks to preserve the seals, so I tend to tanker more fuel on the way back home than I really need to.

I follow IFR reserves plus an hour even in VFR conditions.  In IFR conditions I do IFR reserves plus an hour plus fuel to nearest VFR conditions.  I have 64 gal capacity, and fly LOP at 9.4 gph, so that gives me full tank endurance of ~6.5 hrs and a range of ~940 nm.   If I ever run out of gas please learn from my mistake, because my ninniness should be able to avoid it. 

I have an alarm set on the JPI for low fuel at 20 gal total (time to get gas) and the GPS dings at 10 gal to remind me to land now.