BN2A-27 Tip Tank Procedures
Hi All,
Just started working with an Islander equipped with Tip Tanks, it's new to the company and we don't have anyone around with any real experience working with the Tip Tank Variety but have heard they can be a real pain in the ass. As I understand it we have one with the older Manual System as opposed to the newer ones which have an Automatic Option.
The Flight Manual is the correct one but really only describes the Auto System and not the Manual one. The Placards around the Aircraft tell you to "Fill First, Use Last" which seems a bit counter-intuitive to myself and others as it would be a real shame to go and select them when your Mains are close to empty only to find the damned Pumps won't work for some reason! Also, what if you only required Mains Fuel and not Tip Tanks, would you still fill the Tips first before putting anything in the Mains?
Someone has mentioned to me that this is partially due to structural reasons that you use them last but I can't see how they are that much different to the Non-tip models structurally except for obviously the slightly larger wing span to encompass the tip tanks.
Can those who have used them in past perhaps describe the rules of thumb that they used and any pitfalls to watch out for? Also the actual panel at the top middle is rather vague in its operation, there are 3 switches, the outers are labelled "Mains/Tips" so I'm guessing this means that if I select Tips then it should start pumping from Tips to Mains, so it's more of an On/Off switch to transfer from Tips to Mains and then the single middle switch has 4 sets of labels, first one says "Main, On/Off" and the other side has "Tips, Bright/Dim" and then there are 4 Green Lights as well.
We can't do too much fiddling at the moment on the ground as the Aircraft has just arrived and requires some maintenance before getting airborne but I'm just trying to get ahead in terms of writing up Operating Procedures.
Thanks for all who can help!