Out of fuel

[roadranger]

Last thing I was flying was UltraLights - maybe now I have a steady job I'll put one together again. Got three or four laying around here somewhere...
8)

[Redd202]

"____inch's of fuel left in tank"
Have they started taking fuel gauges out of trucks???? :?

Gauge isn't really accurate when you get down below 1/8 tanks - plus many older trucks have bad gauges. Also - I used to fool around with airplanes and there you NEVER trust the fuel gauges, and you usually don't fill the tanks up more than what you need plus and hour or two for reserve. Anyways I usually fill up when down to 40-50 gallons.
8)

I don't know who trained you when it comes to flying. I was trained to always put all the fuel on board the aircraft tanks could hold and still be legal as far as weight and balance.

The reserve had to do with what was the legal amount you had to have while flying IFR which requires 45 minutes upon landing. See: FAR 91.167.

VFR is different. FAR 91.151 says "says that no pilot can begin a flight unless consideration of wind and weather will allow the flight to reach the planned destination with enough fuel to cruise for 30 minutes at a normal power setting, or 45 minutes at night." However, running out of gas is NOT against the rules. There is a catch all rule FAR 91.13 which bans all "careless or reckless operation."

Where I was trained there is an old saying -- The runway behind you -- The altitude above you -- The fuel you have burned. None of these help you if you have a problem.

I would agree never trust the gauges in an airplane, or any other type of fuel gauge.

I've been flying for almost 35 years.

kc0iv

Being in north Georgia, I, too, have the good fortune of only being around 700-800 msl, so if I take a friend up to go tooling around in the Cherokee 180 for a bit, I generally don't worry about topping off the tanks, even on warm days, though I do take it into account. But consider what might happen if you lived in Denver and decided to pile yourself and 3 of your friends into a 172 loaded with full fuel for some local sightseeing in July or August :shock: The excessive weight and high density altitude could be a lethal combination. In such cases, it is definitely better to load only the required fuel plus a small reserve, as required by FAR

[terrylamar]

If you run out of fuel, why would you tell anyone? Just put fuel in it, prime it, start it and head to the nearest fuel point and fuel.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

If you run out of fuel, why would you tell anyone? Just put fuel in it, prime it, start it and head to the nearest fuel point and fuel.

great ideas ,but a person that thinks like that is not likely to run out fuel in the first place , and those that are ...WELL :wink:

[silvan]

"____inch's of fuel left in tank"
Have they started taking fuel gauges out of trucks???? :?

You mean there are trucks with fuel gauges that actually work?

Where?

I've always done it by considering total fuel capacity, average MPG with a safety factor of -1 mpg (truck gets 7, I figure on 6), and miles travelled.

I ran out once, actually twice the same day (didn't put in enough fuel in BFE to get to the truck stop after all) and always aimed to be looking hard for fuel when I was down to 100 gallons. I'd rather lug around 100 useless gallons of fuel than run out again. Running out of fuel on a curvy shoulderless back road in BFE in a tractor trailer is NOT pleasant.

[Raafi]

mileage calculation is always better

except when you find out that you have a heavy load, on a windy day, then you must account for that,

usually, i am running 5.5 to 6.1 mpg

on windy days with a heavy load, i figure 4.5

so far, it has worked better than my fuel gauge, which is usually jumping and bouncing from half to empty

[eoplocust]

wow so much to consider.. real world things i was never told in cdl school. i thick ill never let the fuel go below 1/2. as long as my employer will not get angry with the more frequent fuel stops

[Mackman]

wow so much to consider.. real world things i was never told in cdl school.

There is alot that the cdl school never told you. Just wait intill you get out here. Thats when the real learning starts.

[Redlight]

Those dam opti stops from qual comm alot of times seam to run me closer to emty than I would like or dare to do with my own vechilce, but I found myself being less close to emty recently making sure I have fuel up into where the cap screws on and since then I have not been so close, but it might be a quinsedent as well

[ajritter04]

Those dam opti stops from qual comm alot of times seam to run me closer to emty than I would like or dare to do with my own vechilce, but I found myself being less close to emty recently making sure I have fuel up into where the cap screws on and since then I have not been so close, but it might be a quinsedent as well

English, please.

[repete]

My gauge is way off, when the gauge read 1/4 tank and I fill up it will take about 100 Gal. for both tanks (100 gal ea.)the first 1/2 tank goes real quick 2nd 1/2 goes alot farther. But I never run less than 1/8 tank and will call in for an extra fuel stop if needed

[Raafi]

opti stops is from the qualcomm, optimizer

where the computer tells you where to stop for fuel. some companies require you stop where the qualcomm tells you to stop or else you may face some type of penalty

welcome to theworld of techonology

[kc0iv]

opti stops is from the qualcomm, optimizer

where the computer tells you where to stop for fuel. some companies require you stop where the qualcomm tells you to stop or else you may face some type of penalty

welcome to theworld of techonology

Those Q-messages are my your company. In almost every case the reason is your company have a contract with certain companies. Normally they receive a discount.

I found when I was a company driver a message to dispatch they would allow you to add fuel at a a non-contract company. They sure don't want you running out of fuel.

kc0iv

[Deus]

Those dam opti stops from qual comm alot of times seam to run me closer to emty than I would like or dare to do with my own vechilce, but I found myself being less close to emty recently making sure I have fuel up into where the cap screws on and since then I have not been so close, but it might be a quinsedent as well

English, please.

You said it.

[trux]

Sorry it took so long to post back.

As for the fuel issue, as some have stated you can't trust the gauge, you should also not trust the opti-stop to get you there. It's going to route you to the nearest "company contracted" fuel stop even if you don't have enough fuel to get there. So you've got to take matters into your own hands.

As for the problem with the weekend dispatch, I had another incident with them and figured it out:

I had a 7 hour relay run to do but with confusion on the relay point and was told to wait for clarification. When time got down to the required 7 hours I messaged that it was time to go.

I immediately got 3 separate and different responses.

1) One told me to reject the load if I couldn't do it.

2) Within a minute another told me that the receiver would accept the load any time I got it there. (Clearly a different style of post so definitely a different dispatcher than the first message.)

3) The third response was a phone call from a dispatcher who was unaware of the other 2 reponses.

Then 3 hours later I got another phone call from yet another dispatcher who was unaware of the previous 3 responses.

So what's going on is multiple dispatchers dealing with a particular load but all responding not only separately but independently. All totally unaware of what the others are doing.

What a great system! or rather no system at all.

But now that I know what's going on I can deal with it. BTW, I talked to another company driver recently who claimed dispatches by the after hours crew ALWAYS turn out bad for him. I think I'm starting to see a pattern here...

So a question, who in the company would I talk to about this problem?

TIA