Originally Posted by
IO540
I wonder if he had a GPS-linked fuel totaliser.
If not, that's a very brave pilot, relying on the gauges in that old heap and the POH figures.
Rather sounds like a "criticism" to me
but maybe I am just a sensitive soul
Fuel totalizers are only as good as the "K" factor set and the condition of the transducer. If you fly only one aircraft, over time you can really dial it in, and they will give amazingly accurate results.
But if I am in flying a strange aircraft I look at what the totalizer tells me with a very jaundiced eye. Only after several legs where I have been able to compare the fuel uplift values with the totalizer will I believe what it is telling me, and this of course requires filling the tank to the brim which may not be possible on every leg.
Bottom line: The presence or absence of a fuel totalizer is only one very small factor in a successful (or not) trans oceanic flight .........