Brilliant work Dave. Really fantastic landing and cool head under pressure. I had a flight where I came very close to running out fo fuel myself. I did a trip 2 up from the dry lake south of Boulder City NV up to Valley of Fire near the north end of Lake Mead and back- all on the NorthWing 12 Gallon tank. On landing I flew past Boulder City airport (where they had fuel) thinking I was fine (my gas gage read 1/4 tank), and landed down at the dry lake again. When I landed my friend and I had an argument about how much fuel I had. I was pretty sure 2 or so gallons, he was pretty sure much less than that. So when I got the trike home we drained the fuel to see how much. The answer was 1/2 gallon. So we came pretty close to a potentially dangerous situation. We spent the rest of the weekend pouring a gallon at a time into my tank, marking each gallon line with a sharpie, and re-calibrating the fuel sender that had been lying to us. Now I also have a fuel flow meter that calculates how much fuel has been used in flight. Knowledge is power!
One of the things I like about trikes is the exceptional visibility, specially when picking up a field to put it down. I'm also a fixed wing pilot, but prefer flying trikes or anything open cockpit. Too much metal around you (blind spots) when flying GAs. Good job Dave!
You did a great job Dave. Yes, it could have happened at a worse time in your flight. Over the years I have had quite a few engine outs and almost all fuel related but all of them were in true ultralight trikes where total mass and sink rate is lower so usually a bit more time to search for a suitable LZ and landing speed is lower as well. Hope I never have to deal with an out of fuel engine out in my Scout. I do periodically practice engine off landings but none of them have been off field. When I first got my current trike I did as Ken described, adding one gallon at a time with sharpie marks. I highly recommend doing that for any one that has a translucent tank. Dave this kind of experience helps to build confidence that you can handle a real engine out, but we should never get so confident that we become complacent with fuel level checks.
Comments
- 1 like
- Trike Ops@xtreme3d
JozinkoTrike Ops liked this
Great experience Dave, isnt it?!? :) Thanks for sharing. Its beautiful to know that every situation is solvable.
- 1 like
- Trike Ops@xtreme3d
Aeroquest AviationTrike Ops liked this
Ha! I finally got to see the video! Nice landing...all worked out perfectlly if you ask me. Nice to have freinds that have gas...liquid I mean!
- 2 likes
- Jozinko@Sajan
- Trike Ops@xtreme3d
KenJozinko liked this
Trike Ops liked this
Brilliant work Dave. Really fantastic landing and cool head under pressure. I had a flight where I came very close to running out fo fuel myself. I did a trip 2 up from the dry lake south of Boulder City NV up to Valley of Fire near the north end of Lake Mead and back- all on the NorthWing 12 Gallon tank. On landing I flew past Boulder City airport (where they had fuel) thinking I was fine (my gas gage read 1/4 tank), and landed down at the dry lake again. When I landed my friend and I had an argument about how much fuel I had. I was pretty sure 2 or so gallons, he was pretty sure much less than that. So when I got the trike home we drained the fuel to see how much. The answer was 1/2 gallon. So we came pretty close to a potentially dangerous situation. We spent the rest of the weekend pouring a gallon at a time into my tank, marking each gallon line with a sharpie, and re-calibrating the fuel sender that had been lying to us. Now I also have a fuel flow meter that calculates how much fuel has been used in flight. Knowledge is power!
- 1 like
- Jozinko@Sajan
Trike OpsJozinko liked this
One of the things I like about trikes is the exceptional visibility, specially when picking up a field to put it down. I'm also a fixed wing pilot, but prefer flying trikes or anything open cockpit. Too much metal around you (blind spots) when flying GAs. Good job Dave!
Great job Dave. Thanks for sharing. Makes us all do a double triple check.
- 1 like
- Jozinko@Sajan
ULtrikepilotJozinko liked this
You did a great job Dave. Yes, it could have happened at a worse time in your flight. Over the years I have had quite a few engine outs and almost all fuel related but all of them were in true ultralight trikes where total mass and sink rate is lower so usually a bit more time to search for a suitable LZ and landing speed is lower as well. Hope I never have to deal with an out of fuel engine out in my Scout. I do periodically practice engine off landings but none of them have been off field. When I first got my current trike I did as Ken described, adding one gallon at a time with sharpie marks. I highly recommend doing that for any one that has a translucent tank. Dave this kind of experience helps to build confidence that you can handle a real engine out, but we should never get so confident that we become complacent with fuel level checks.
Wow...good job Dave. Just seeing this for the first time. Very fortunate you had some landing options.