--> Europa-List message posted by: "nigel charles" <nigelcharles@tiscali.co.uk>
For what it is worth this is my viewpoint on fuel gauging.
On a touring aircraft like the Europa knowing your fuel contents
accurately gives peace of mind and avoids needless fuel stops at
intermediate airfields. Although some may say that 3 hours is plenty
long enough and is always within the range of a full tank, there are
times when 2 sector trips without refuelling are required (no fuel
available at destination or avoiding loading Avgas rather than
unleaded).
With that in mind it is helpful to have two independent ways of
measuring fuel contents. Fuel level whether it is float, sightglass or
capacitance sender is one method. Whilst this shows the quantity of fuel
in the tank even the most accurate system is unlikely to better
inaccuracies of 10 per cent. I use dual capacitance senders but treat
them as a backup. My main (and by far more accurate fuel contents
indication) is using a fuel flow sender and electronic integrator
display (in my case uMonitor). Two of us have been running this system
for 3 years now (the other Europa uses the EIS display). We are both
remaining within 0.5 per cent and often within 0.2 per cent. There are
only two significant considerations with the integrator system. Firstly
it is important to remember to reset the calculated fuel contents after
refuel. Secondly it will not read accurately if there is a fuel leak
before the fuel flow sender. The chances of this are hopefully remote
and you are likely to be aware of this by smell.
Both techniques have been used for many years in larger aircraft. Even
with very accurate gauging in the B777 often it is the level gauge
rather than the integrated readings that gives errors.
To sum up - by all means fit whatever you think is the best level
gauging system but for real accuracy fit an integrator system.
Nigel Charles
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