View Full Version : Cessna fuel measuring rods
Browsing in Transair the other day (as you do), I noticed these gauges for the first time. Probably old hat, but new to me. They are plastic rods with a hole through them, where you place them in the fuel tank, pop your finger over the hole and through some dodgy law of physics (never my strong point), the fuel rises up, and stays in, so when you take the stick out, you can read off the fuel against the level marks and tell how much you've got.
Great idea - though a wooden stick would probably do just as good a job.
Anyway, it is a great idea for Cessnas, especially when you are trying to get that fourth elephant in, and wonder how much fuel you can take.
Does anyone have experience of them? Are they reliable?
Thanks
SquawkModeA
3rd Mar 2005, 10:20
We used them at my flying school and since I never ran out of fuel I guess they're pretty reliable. You do need to calibrate them correctly.
S-Works
3rd Mar 2005, 10:25
I have used one for ages on my aircraft and always find it matches pretty well the data I get electronically from my fuel computer. Belt and braces stuff.
Certainly easier they making your own.
Davidt
3rd Mar 2005, 11:07
I bought a universal version "Fuel Hawk", you have to spend time calibrating it - take the fuel out then re fill by known steps ie 5l recording as you go.
I could never be a*sed so its never been used other than as a dip stick.
I now fly a plane that has half its fuel hidden in the wing root so it useless anyway. If you want it its yours gratis. PM me
Before I take up DavidT's kind offer, Bose-X, SquawkModeA, with the specific Cessna ones (I'm interested in one for a C172), what is entailed with calibration? Is this always a case of emptying the tanks? Or is it simpler than that?
S-Works
3rd Mar 2005, 11:17
the one I have is already calibrated in US gallons and is bang on!
Apologies to all, I've just noticed the PA28 dipstick thread furhter down. Should have appended this to that one.
Dipstick threads eh, just like buses, wait for ever and then 2 come along at the same time :)
nouseforaname
4th Mar 2005, 10:09
i use one for a c182 and was calibrated when I bought it and works pretty accurately. Beats the guages if you ask me.
Ian_Wannabe
5th Mar 2005, 01:00
Hey sorry to jump on this thread with a slightly off topic question. But I fly a C150 and Ive always wondered - Why exactly are the fuel guages in the cockpit SO unreliable?? Surely in this day and age, especially for something as important as fuel indication, accurate fuel guages can be found?
Flyin'Dutch'
5th Mar 2005, 06:23
Surely in this day and age
Well that is the nail on the head! The aeroplane was designed and built half a century ago!
On calibrating the 'generic' fuel Hawk.
Takes about an hour on the outside. Start with empty tanks and fill them up with a known quantity at the time (I used 5 USG) then dipstick it after each fuel addition and put it on the graph that comes with it.
Repeat for each tank and you have your own calibrated graph. Works well.
If you buy the pre-calibrated aeroplane specific one make sure it is the right one for your aeroplane. Tanks do differ from one variant to the next.
stuartforrest
5th Mar 2005, 09:58
Yup they are excellent. Had one for my 182.
Ian_Wannabe
5th Mar 2005, 18:17
Ahh I see - I suppose it wouldnt be a good financial idea to fit aircraft with guages that may save lives, then again it would be pretty expensive.. ahhh economics!
High Wing Drifter
5th Mar 2005, 18:55
Ahh I see - I suppose it wouldnt be a good financial idea to fit aircraft with guages that may save lives, then again it would be pretty expensive.. ahhh economics!
I suppose another way of looking at it is that a reliable gauge will eventually (if you fly enough or are unlucky enough) put you down in a field. Complacency could possibly catch up with even the most disciplined. At least with crap gauges you know not to trust them, but yet they are probably good enough to tell you if you had in flight fuel leak.
Hmm, I made a comment about using a wooden stick that I seem to deleted when editing the post earlier. Sorry for any confusion.
Chuck Ellsworth
6th Mar 2005, 00:21
Quote :
" Great idea - though a wooden stick would probably do just as good a job. "
............................................................ .........
Unfortunately a wooden stick is a very poor tool to measure the amount of fuel in a tank due to wicking and then quick evaporation.
The clear tube with fuel trapped in it gives an exact measurement as long as you make sure it is all the way to the bottom of the tank and you give it a few seconds for the fuel to equalize with the depth of the fuel.
Chuck