PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Pilot in the Dock for running out of fuel (Update: PILOT CLEARED!)MERGED.
Old 3rd September 2003 | 04:41
  #54 (permalink)  
Genghis the Engineer
Moderator
30 Countries Visited
25 Anniversary
Veteran: Reserves
 
Joined: Feb 2000
: CPL
Posts: 14,480
Likes: 178
From: UK
I can think of very few aeroplanes where, if it was considered important enough, a small panel / filler-cap where a dipstick could be inserted into the deepest part of the tank couldn't be inserted with very little trouble at-all. Also a reasonably cheap totaliser could be inserted in the main fuel line very easily with a cockpit readout - so long as you know how much fuel you had to start with there's no particular problem. The CAA mod fees would probably be more than the device itself.

Incidentally, in a previous life I used to do flight testing on a British light twin called a Jaguar. That had an obscene number of tanks, and a largely automated fuel system. Fuel gauging was through a totaliser which worked on everything except the tailtank. Drill was not to take-off until it started going down because until it had, you were out of aft CG. If you've ever seen a Jag sat at the start of a runway for longer than seems sensible in reheat before taking the brakes off, that's probably why!

G
Genghis the Engineer is offline