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Confession


Browncbr1

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I put the pilot's side fuel cap on the cowling when I take it off.  The copilot's side is obvious when you board the airplane (i.e., the hole in the wing) but the pilot's side is easy to miss.

How do I this to be true?  Because I've forgotten it.  Twice.  It's undoubtedly the stupidest way to lose about $15 worth of 100LL.

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26 minutes ago, Hyett6420 said:

Done the fuel cap twice now, ONCE on my first flight to aeroskill, amazing how much that fuel stuff smells as it pours out of the fuel cap hole on take off.  "Al, emergency, immediate return". Well it got the crash crew moving.  

Second time was caused by exactly the same thing, but i spotted it before leaving.

so how did this happen, well you take the fuel cap off, you fill the tank, you put the cap on, you move to the other tank, repeat, EXCEPT, you put the hose away first, remove the static line, get on board the aircraft.  Out there sittng on your pilots wing is a nice hole and an off fuel cap.  So my solution now is to ALWAYS fuel the left wing first, THEN the right.  I never put the hose away till i have replaced the caps, also do a final "caps" check (sorry Cirrus, i got there first)   Then if i get on board, and have left the cap off i am more likely to see it as i board the aircraft.  

Hope never to make that mistake again, but interestingly, i had NEVER made it before i owned by Mooney. :)   

You could put both fuel caps on the cowling right in front of you while you fuel.  Inelegant, but it might be as effective

Or make a habit out of replacing and locking the fuel cap immediately after any task, such as fueling, checking the level or pouring the sump sample back in.

Or include "check fuel caps" on your "Before Start" checklist, since they're visible from the cockpit.  That wouldn't help with the pitot cover, though :)

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I haven't forgotten the fuel cap but I did just buy another Fuelhawk dipstick for checking the tanks. Apparently left my other one on the wing and it was long gone. A clear piece of acrylic doesn't exactly stand out... The new one has a nice red "Remove Before Flight" streamer attached to the top end to hopefully prevent it from happening again. Fortunately I still had the calibration sheet so I could just add the marks at the proper heights.

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Landed at a pretty little lake high up in the caribou mt ,BC.We taxied to shore. Found an abandoned camp with a boat we used to paddle out to fish with.Nice summer day,no bugs,a little warm and nearest road is 50 miles away.When it's time to return ,wind has died and it's maybe 6500/7000 density altitude...full power and the 180 hp Husky won't get up on the step!We moter arround the small lake ,in plow turns till I realize ,I still have carb heat on from the landing!

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