Aweome guys, thanks for replying.
Yes the fuel drains were correctly seated after testing for water. There was about a 6" wide fuel stain on the underside of the flap, yet there was no visible fuel leak on the ground or in the air. This was not evident on the pre flight but there was a small amount evident on a pre flight I did on the same aircraft a month before.
The leak appeared to be forward of the drain valve as it was exiting the panel joint and the drain valve hole.
I dip sticked the acft at full tanks at departure from AAA.
I admit now in hind sight I may have had an indication of this problem on the previous flight that was 50 min long (30ltr/hr burn rate), and I put 66ltr of fuel in the tanks to refill. But as I hadn't filled the acft initially myself and it was dipped sticked a bit less the full tanks I wasn't sure it was full. I also had run the engine a bit rich so I disregarded the higher than normal burn rate. (As I said hindsight).
Last edited by speed2height; 4th Dec 2006 at 13:46.