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Fuel management would seem to be the easiest part of flying. But the accident record shows that fuel problems account for as many as half of the power-loss accidents every year. Something is going on here that makes fuel management trickier than it seems to be.
Fuel management is defined as successfully supplying sufficient fuel of the proper type to each engine to complete the flight The process begins before takeoff, but continues throughout the flight Proper fuel management demands a complete knowledge of the airplane's systems, fuel types, and a conservative attitude that always builds in an alternate plan if something goes wrong.
The first step in proper fuel management is to determine how much fuel is on board before takeoff-an obvious requirement, but not always easy to accomplish. The most positive way to know how much fuel is on board is to top off the tanks. If you take the cap off and the tank is filled to the brim, you can be sure that the full amount of usable fuel listed in the pilot's operating handbook is available.
But on airplanes with long shallow tanks, eyeballing a tank level can be tricky. The Cessna 210s and Cardinals are good examples of airplanes with long shallow tanks. Because the tanks are not very deep, a small change in the fuel level at the filler port can mean many gallons of difference in the actual amount of fuel in the tank. This is especially true when the wing has little dihedral, as is the case with the 210 and Cardinal. With significant dihedral, the filler port must be at the outboard end of the tank. Gravity in a wing with dihedral forces the fuel to completely fill the inboard portion of the tank before the level is visible at the filler port In a shallow tank with little or no dihedral, the inboard section of the tank will have virtually the same level as at the filler port so if the fuel is not at the brim the tank will contain significantly less fuel than the specified amount. I have watched Dick Collins squeeze ten to twelve more gallons into his 210 tanks when they already appeared to be full. That may not sound...