Guest Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 8 hours ago, gsxrpilot said: I'd prefer not to have that or any other * attached to my fuel calculation. When the fuel runs out in cruise flight, I know what the number is. Certainly that would be the most accurate, but I doubt that there is much difference, but I've never checked. Clarence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar Avalle Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 I have bladders with 64 gal. I drained them to calibrate my JPI and I got 63 gallons into the tanks. When I open the tank and I see that there is not fuel left in the tank it means I have about 6 gallons in it. As of running the fuel tank dry, I have to admit I don't feel confortable doing it. But may be I should just try it... Fear of the unknown. Oscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertGary1 Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 In my stock F there is 6.5 gal when you can no longer see fuel looking into the tank from the filler. -Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 1 hour ago, RobertGary1 said: In my stock F there is 6.5 gal when you can no longer see fuel looking into the tank from the filler. -Robert Don't you mean "up to 6½ gallons," since not seeing the fuel level, you don't know how much is there? Also, unlike the short bodies, your F has larger, 64 gallon tanks . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted August 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 I tried to run a tank dry today heading up to SC to see the eclipse. Unfortunately my destination was just shy of how far it could take me. Switched for landing and put 24 gallons into it, which confirms everything everyone is saying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarmaster Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 I have bladders with 64 gal. I drained them to calibrate my JPI and I got 63 gallons into the tanks. When I open the tank and I see that there is not fuel left in the tank it means I have about 6 gallons in it. As of running the fuel tank dry, I have to admit I don't feel confortable doing it. But may be I should just try it... Fear of the unknown. Oscar It's really not a big deal Oscar. If your plane is injected, it won't give you much warning, it'll just quit. Mine took about 5 to 8 seconds to restart. I was at about 8,000 feet.Total altitude loss in the entire maneuver... Zero.Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinerunner Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 (edited) On my old 64 M20E I ran one tank to the point where the fuel pressure was starting to drop and move around, then switched to the other tank; it must have been sucking some bubbles. The next morning I could just see a little fuel coming out from under the rib that separates the two sections of my wet tank. So in my M20E when it disappears from sight (looking in the filler cap) it's just about to die. My fuel gauge isn't far wrong either; it was reading close to empty. I mainly trust the dip stick but the fuel gauges have value too and aren't quite worthless. I've run it dry once. I had plenty of altitude. It took me a little longer to restart than expected; I had it set up for low flow rate and LOP. Auxiliary pump and full rich brought it back quicker. I think you should set yourself up to run it dry at altitude. Even though you're expecting it you get busy with something else and...surprise. It's hard to train for surprises but this might actually give you an idea of how you respond. You get to spend a few seconds as a glider, sort things out, and then back to normal. With plenty of altitude pretty much zero risk (I my book no such thing as zero risk). Give yourself plenty of altitude and don't be in a high traffic area since you'll be distracted for a bit. Edited August 23, 2017 by pinerunner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan M20E '66 Posted August 24, 2017 Report Share Posted August 24, 2017 Last Summer I purposely flew over a nearby airport at about 5k' until my left tank went dry. Interestingly, it ran about 15 minutes after the needle pegged which is a good thing to know. And even though I knew the engine was going to stop and was ready to change tanks, I was terrified when it happened. My hands shook as I tried to change tanks. The engine started back up within a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. I flew back to my airport and marked up a fresh stick at 3 gallon increments. I now am pretty confident about measurement accuracy of fuel in the wings, and I always stick my tanks before flying. I'll probably do the right wing just to check for symmetry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 For those with bladders, if you fly it down to 5 gallons, the amount left in the outboard bladders is very little. When I drained it, I found there is about 2 gallons of unusable in addition to the 5 gallons usable. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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