OK Guys... educate me... C172 Fuel Problem
I came close to running out of fuel today in a C172 due to a leak in the RH wing tank. I am an ex-miltary guy with little experience in GA, and I took a club aircraft on a nav.
Before I explain what happened I want to say that these GA guages (fuel, heading, fixed card ADF) are rather innacurate and difficult to use accurately.
I departed AAA with full fuel (5hrs endurance) bound for BBB then CCC (3hrs 10 total flying) with a stop at BBB to pick up a a pax.
90 minutes to BBB saw me land with 1/2 left and full right tanks.
Picked up the pax and departed for the 90 min flight to CCC.
After 30 min the right tank level went from full to 1/4 in the space of 5 minutes. Left was indicating 1/4. A look out the right showed a little fuel staining from the fuel drain valve.
Decided to play it safe and landed at DDD (30 miles short of destination). Lucky I did as THE RIGHT TANK WAS DRY and the left had 3 LITRES in it.
My calculations show 45 litres or 1.5 hrs of flight fuel went missing.
Guys this is unsatisfactory for a bunch or reasons... your comments please