Calculated fuel on board versus indicated fuel on board

[GeeBee]

As Mike Busch about fueling at KSQL. 

 

[87-205SE]

Trust your watch.   Whenever I even think about low fuel, I land and get some.  My J has 750 NM legs.   Plus or minus.

Should never be a concern for me if I did any flight planning.    Seattle to Detroit.   4 stops and about 2 hours of fuel still in the tanks at every stop.

[gsxrpilot]

Once upon a time, the watch was the best we had for fuel management. But it's the 21st century and we can do much better. For less than the cost of a GPS navigator, one can have modern, up to date, digital, fuel management, collection and instrumentation. Accuracy to .5 gal in each tank is common. That all translates into better safety and much better speed. There's no speed mod quite as effective as skipping a fuel stop.

The M20J actually has about 1200 NM legs, and some like @201er can make that more like 1400 NM. Your bladder or your ass might only do 750 NM, but don't blame it on the Mooney. Seattle to Detroit is an easy one stop flight in a 201.

[ArtVandelay]

Once upon a time, the watch was the best we had for fuel management. But it's the 21st century and we can do much better. For less than the cost of a GPS navigator, one can have modern, up to date, digital, fuel management, collection and instrumentation. Accuracy to .5 gal in each tank is common. That all translates into better safety and much better speed. There's no speed mod quite as effective as skipping a fuel stop.
The M20J actually has about 1200 NM legs, and some like [mention=8223]201er[/mention] can make that more like 1400 NM. Your bladder or your ass might only do 750 NM, but don't blame it on the Mooney. Seattle to Detroit is an easy one stop flight in a 201.

Couldn’t said it better.

It’s a 10 hours of flight time with normal winds. But would be 12.5 going west, so 3 stops, all with extra 2 hours of fuel.

[jlunseth]

My fuel management follows the KISS principle. My tank, full, holds 75.6 gallons. I used to use just one piece of paper in the cockpit, and I would write 37.8 at the top of a left and right column. I takeoff and climb on the left tank. I burn around 15 to 17 gallons out of that tank, and I am a little superstitious about it. I like to burn to a number that makes the math easy, so 17.8 gallons is the best (37.8-17.8 gives you an even number). I switch tanks and subtract the left tank fuel burn on my piece of paper, leaving lets say 20 gallons in the left tank. I fly to the point where I start my descent into my destination, note the fuel used in the right tank, subtract that from the right tank, and switch back to the left, which has 20 gallons. My fuel flow, LOP, is 11.1-.3 GPH, so this gets me around 3 -3 1/2 total hours of flight time before I start the descent. The 20 gallons is plenty to get down and land. If I go further than a total distance of about 4 hours I just burn more fuel out of the right tank before switching. The plane does not care if the fuel is balanced between the two tanks, it flies the same. There is no point in switching back and forth every five gallons, or every 15 minutes, or the like, that just makes it complicated to know how much fuel is in which tank. 4:30 is about as far as I normally go before landing to refuel, although I have done a few longer. If the winds in the Flight Levels are really good, best not to come down. The method is simple, and uses points that are changes in flight to trigger the switches, so easy to remember. My total endurance is about 6:30, it takes a very long trip to land with low fuel. I no longer carry the piece of paper except, maybe if it is a flight of 4 hours or more so I need to keep more careful track.

This worked well when I had factory gauges, the only problem was overcoming the sphincter effect of the lack of accuracy of those gauges. I have CiES now, so less of that.