Why calculate fuel?

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5Kg of fuel can be difference between life or death.

Watch the videos on this channel. The case study ones. Very eye opening stuff.

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22

Thank you for this link! I will check that out!

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The more weight on board the more fuel you use. Fuel is included in weight. Payload plus fuel must be under to MGW.

I was taught to carry sufficient fuel for the flight time plus enough to get to my selected diversion plus 30 mins reserve when learning to fly the 152 ITRW.

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Watching this gave me goosebumps. A horrible scenario you don’t want to be in.

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25

I see your question is well and truly answered above, so I just want to add


Good on you for learning old school, I still have an old manual wiz-wheel in my flight bag. And I have always loved paper charts and am sorry to see them fading out of existence. There is just something about the tactile experience, even fighting to get the darn thing folded up as it was originally is somehow satisfying when you finally win!

Over-dependence on electronics is a bad way to live. Sometimes the systems fail.

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Looks like AOPA is using FS2020 now to simulate these flights.

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27

Do you top up your car every morning even though you are only driving 20km to work and back?

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28

i used to do that, but as of today I will calculate my fuel by trip :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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29

Exactly and it gives you something to do while flying too. I embrace the true beauty of old school navigation. Looking outside the window, cross check with your chart and dialing in VOR frequencies. Yeah this adds a whole other dimension to flying compared to todays standards with glass cockpits.

So yeah, with those measuring instruments I bought, I like to reflect the real life procedure pilots do prior to take off, so the experience is more immersive if you will.

And you know what they say


A good pilot is always learning.

Mark😉

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30

Agree with your point re immersion.
Though surely good pilots embrace and become competent with both.

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31

First off, love the quest for knowledge in flying! I think you asked why plan for fuel? Your example of “staying in the action area” is a great point if you plan on staying in or close to the traffic pattern at your local field. When I’m just flying doing pattern work at my local field, the tanks are always filled to the tabs. It’s just how the plane is provided to me when I fly it. Unless I plan on pounding the pattern for 3+ hours - no thanks, I have enough fuel. And if I couldn’t land at my base field for whatever reason, I can fly 10-15 minutes and land at another one of 4 local fields.

But if you start doing cross-country flights - more than 50 miles - you need to put a little more thought into things. Sure, to the tabs tanks will do that out and back easily, but your risk factors also go up as you get further from home. You need to be thinking about weather more, diversions, other problems that can happen. You MUST be a planner if you’re going to be a pilot.

Fact: While it’s far fewer than automobiles running out of fuel, the U.S. FAA still states that over 50 aircraft crash each year due to fuel EXHAUSTION. Stats like this can be found here: https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/operational_metrics/

This is mostly due, I’d bet, to poor or no planning or poor “re-planning” dealing with an extenuating circumstance in the air like weather avoidance for instance. Another thing that catches pilots out is “get there itis”. As far as fuel is concerned, it’s the equivalent of playing roulette with the low-fuel light in your car. You don’t want to be in the red and be in the air. You need to plan to ensure that doesn’t happen.

  • When you drive a car, you don’t care about how winds or load affect your range - unless you drive a truck for a living or drive an EV. In an airplane, these things directly impact the amount of fuel you burn and consequently fuel you need to reach your destination OR intermediate fuel stops.

  • If things go sour on the ground, you can just find any old gas station for your car. Maybe not always the case in the air. Are you going to have airports that are available, with the right fuel, the right weather along your route of flight? you’d have to plan for that. In a car you can just wing it.

For this reason - I’m going to go on a limb and say full EV drivers could make good pilots. They would at least be more mindful of energy management vs. their petrol driving neighbors. :slight_smile:

Good luck on your quest. it’s an industry where the more you LEARN and APPLY pays direct dividends to your skill, enjoyment, and most importantly, safety.

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32

Even in commercial settings, fuel planning is critical. More fuel in the tanks means more weight, which in turn, means more fuel burned. Carrying just enough for the trip plus minimum reserves saves the airline industry major cash every year.

Several years back, I was traveling to Amarillo (KAMA) for Christmas. In Dallas (KDFW), waiting for the last (and shortest) leg of the trip on an ERJ-145, there was marginal weather. The gate agent announced that because of the weather, they had to add extra fuel in order to include a contingency destination in the planning. This meant that some of the 50 passengers had to get bumped. Of course, nobody volunteered. So they said that they’d pick who got bumped based on who made their reservations most recently. Since I’d made my reservations in July, I just sat back and watched the fireworks as people got kicked off the flight and left the gate in a huff.

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Great [though not for those bumped passengers] story. Love this kind of anecdotal stuff.
An object lesson in customer satisfaction in the face of the exigencies of air safety.

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34

The answers to the question were an eye opener to me in terms of flyable distances.
One can imagine that is makes no sence to take a B777 ( 6,5 hrs or so) from Amsterdam to New York but with fuel like your destination was San Francisco ( 11 hrs)
And I never really thought about it but I’ve always wondered why in most GA aircraft the tanks are filled before each flight instead of after landing.
Simply because mostly, the next destination and payload are not yet known.
It’s not like you borrow a car from a friend and return it cleaned and topped off.

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Depending on local climate, humidity can cause fuel tanks to accumulate liquid water, resulting in more drain-off prior to flight


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36

The heavier the aircraft the higher the fuel burn and avgas is expensive. Plane and simple.

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@GONEFLYING1234, for me it’s the opposite. Tanks are filled “to the tabs” of the 172 I fly after each flight. So for me, I have the opposite issue. If I’m planning on taking passengers with me, and the plane is out flying before I get it, I have dispatch NOT refuel so that I can determine weight and balance first, then load fuel. I’m always weight limited when it comes to pax fling with me so having less fuel to begin with potentially means I can take that third person.

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38

Also in today’s cost conscious airliner world your flight dispatcher would have calculated the minimum fuel required to reach the destination with appropriate IFR reserves. On top of that they would add any required contingency fuel, holding fuel, extra taxi or APU burn fuel. I’ve heard it on the comms plenty of times in the PHX area when we get the summer dust storms and aircraft are in the holds around PHX. It doesn’t take long before many burn through their hold fuel and bogey out for LAS or TUS, especially if they arrived from the east coast with the “necessary” plus a little more fuel. It’s also why one of the hub carriers here at PHX does single engine taxi for departure. It saves just that little bit of fuel.

Airlines may also “tanker” fuel on shorter hops to save time in refueling or if fuel prices at the destination are higher than another location where they can save $. You get the fuel you need and maybe a little more.

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39

What VOR ;)? That makes you follow an instrument again. You should be flying from landmark to landmark in max 10-15 minute legs. That’s the basics of flying and what you mostly do during PPL training.

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As others have commented, weight is critical. Using standard passenger weights for example can be dangerous in GA aircraft. In my case I am a rather large citizen and the standard joke at my areo club is that I cannot put fuel in my port wing tank because I would simply go around in circles!!

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