Fuel Dip Stick For Super Decathlon
- Thread starter ctwang
- Start date
I cut and pasted an older post from someone else below. It worked for my 8kcab. Use the search function as there are several threads about dip sticks.
Bill
I checked my plane this weekend by filling the tanks (21 gallons required) and using the full data point (6 inches at full - 40 gallons) then plotting a line between these two ponts and determining the slope of the line (gallons / inch). The data is little different than what has been posted. The differences are probably due to things like; level of floor where measured, air tire pressures, landing gear condition/ configuration etc. This will never be an accurate measure, but is a common method of checking tanks and should serve to give a pretty good approximation of fuel in tanks. This is provided for discussion purposes only, and there is no guarnatee of accuracy or reliabilty of this date, and as with others, All Disclaimers apply; Here's what I got with my plane (1995 8KCAB);
6.00 inches 20 gallons
5.55 19
5.10 18
4.64 17
4.19 16
3.74 15
3.29 14
2.83 13
2.38 12
1.93 11
1.48 10
1.02 9
0.57 8
0.12 7
Bill
I checked my plane this weekend by filling the tanks (21 gallons required) and using the full data point (6 inches at full - 40 gallons) then plotting a line between these two ponts and determining the slope of the line (gallons / inch). The data is little different than what has been posted. The differences are probably due to things like; level of floor where measured, air tire pressures, landing gear condition/ configuration etc. This will never be an accurate measure, but is a common method of checking tanks and should serve to give a pretty good approximation of fuel in tanks. This is provided for discussion purposes only, and there is no guarnatee of accuracy or reliabilty of this date, and as with others, All Disclaimers apply; Here's what I got with my plane (1995 8KCAB);
6.00 inches 20 gallons
5.55 19
5.10 18
4.64 17
4.19 16
3.74 15
3.29 14
2.83 13
2.38 12
1.93 11
1.48 10
1.02 9
0.57 8
0.12 7
JimParker256
New member
Pretty easy to make your own, using an un-used paint stirring stick. Fly out most of the fuel, and drain the rest. Refill a couple of gallons per side at a time, dipping the tanks after each incremental fill, and mark the dipstick at each level.
The only issue is that with the tail on the ground, the dipstick won't even get wet until you've got about 10 gallons aboard... On my 7ECA with 39-gallon tanks, that's 1/4 full... But for me, that's OK, because 10 gallons is my "takeoff minimum" anyway. It represents an hour of flying with an hour of reserve.
And, yes, my tanks also show about "6-inches" of fuel height in the tanks when they are full (39-gallon tanks, though), but with the tail on the ground, wpbarnar's method would leave a lot of fuel in the tank when I dip it and it shows "empty"... it would also give you the impression of a much higher that normal fuel burn, unless wpbarnar is leveling the plane somehow (putting the tail on a sawhorse?) when he dips the tank... For me, that was way too much trouble, and I just go off the "barely wet dipstick = 10 gallons" measure.
The only issue is that with the tail on the ground, the dipstick won't even get wet until you've got about 10 gallons aboard... On my 7ECA with 39-gallon tanks, that's 1/4 full... But for me, that's OK, because 10 gallons is my "takeoff minimum" anyway. It represents an hour of flying with an hour of reserve.
And, yes, my tanks also show about "6-inches" of fuel height in the tanks when they are full (39-gallon tanks, though), but with the tail on the ground, wpbarnar's method would leave a lot of fuel in the tank when I dip it and it shows "empty"... it would also give you the impression of a much higher that normal fuel burn, unless wpbarnar is leveling the plane somehow (putting the tail on a sawhorse?) when he dips the tank... For me, that was way too much trouble, and I just go off the "barely wet dipstick = 10 gallons" measure.