Piper Cherokee 6 - Fuel Stick & Fuel Management

[Jorge Martins]

I am currently flying a Cherokee 6-300 and I have two questions that I hope you can clarify me:

1 – Each main tank has a metal thing inside, like a marker, but I am not sure what that marker stands for, either half tank, ¾ of a tank, it’s not written on the POH or the maintenance manual.

2 – It’s written on the POH to fill tip tanks first and use main tanks first. On the type of flying that I’ve been doing, landing on unprepared runways, we always leave the tips empty to avoid the momentum on the wings that the ground roll causes. This is against the POH but still, is a safer way to protect the wing root, as I was taught. What do you think? (Remember: we are landing on [really] unprepared runways in Africa).

Thanks!
JM

[Mach E Avelli]

I endorse the above comment for two reasons:

1. The people who design and build aircraft know something about load paths, stress, fatigue, bending moments etc. The average operator usually knows a little less.

2. No matter how rough the strip, consider the time that an aircraft is exposed to vibration, shaking, reversed loads etc rolling along the ground for take-off and landing versus the time it spends in the air. If Africa is anything like Australia, the air below 10,000 feet is often very turbulent.