Page 16 - March 2016

Pacific Coast Avionics Quarter Page
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speed, you have the power to improve your situation, even if it’s just steering to stay over landable terrain. You must, however, plan to never reach such an untenable point.
When you plan the flight, base your expectations on worst-case scenarios. Add extra time to a headwind calculation and don’t count on every bit of tailwind that’s forecast. Move to the more-pessimistic line on the cruise chart if you’re between altitudes or power settings. Don’t pin your hopes on fueling at only one airport along your route. That may be the one that’s closed for construction, blocked for traffic or out of fuel. Every planned stop needs an alternate and that alternate needs an alternate.
Fuel Management
In August, 2001, an Airbus A330 exhausted its fuel supply over the Atlantic, because an unknown leak was dumping Jet-A overboard at many gallons per minute. Miraculously, an airport 65 n.mi. away in the Azores was reached with altitude to spare and all 306 persons aboard survived the dead-stick landing. Had the crew known the source of the excessive consumption, steps could have been taken to isolate the leak.
Most fuel incidents happen because no one manages the fuel, not because the gauges fail or a filler cap comes off or headwinds pick up. Start by checking the tanks during preflight. If you want full tanks, make sure you have full tanks, and that doesn’t mean fuel is simply visible in the filler neck. Most flat wing tanks can hold several gallons more if topped off slowly and you had better believe that placarded amount painted beside the fuel filler port was based on squeezing in every drop.
Computational errors have brought about some famous fuel-exhaustion incidents, the most notable being the “Gimli Glider”, a Canadian Boeing 767-233 that was mistakenly short-fueled by employing the wrong metric- conversion factor. Fuel gauging and fueling systems can be calibrated in gallons, liters, kilos and pounds, but the aircraft’s engines know only time. Make absolutely certain you are working with the correct units when computing your fuel load, both to avoid an erroneous over-weight takeoff and the other extreme of a serious shortage of fuel in the cruise and arrival segments. Bush-country pilots, tasked with bringing out anything that can be stuffed aboard, frequently quip “fuel doesn’t weigh anything”, preferring to have extra endurance when crossing the jungle. However, excessive tankering limits performance and it costs fuel to lift the added weight to altitude.
Pilots run out of fuel because they ignore the obvious and refuse to make piloting decisions. Taking an upbeat, optimistic view of life may you a joy to be around, but it won’t extend the•time left in your tanks. Learn your airplane’s fuel system, then use that knowledge to make good fuel decisions. T&T
MARCH 2016
14 • TWIN & TURBINE