Lanyards for the Gas Caps?

[David Paule]

Do you have them? And if so, how did you do it?

Thanks,
Dave

[John Courte]

I wish I'd had one a couple of weeks ago. Gas caps do you no good at all when left to roll off the back of the wing on takeoff.

[hawker]

No way, cause more damage when they bang around in the airflow. I carry a spare cap. Had one come off on another aircraft and it was not pretty.

[Mike S]

I have a gas cap tool on my key ring.

When I remove the cap, I lay it and the keys on the wing walk on that wing. Ditto the second wing when I move on to fuel it.

Pretty hard to miss putting the cap back on before flight if the keys are right there next to the cap.

[Sig600]

Originally Posted by hawker

No way, cause more damage when they bang around in the airflow. I carry a spare cap. Had one come off on another aircraft and it was not pretty.

My thoughts exactly. I'd rather it be gone than bang all over the wing. Either way the gas is gone.

I keep the cap in my hand if it's not in the tank, and I have a bottle opener on my keys to open them so keys have to come out to refuel. If the cap leaves my hand, it only goes back on the tank. I too keep a spare in my tool kit if one ever departs.

[flyboy1963]

Originally Posted by Mike S

I have a gas cap tool on my key ring.

When I remove the cap, I lay it and the keys on the wing walk on that wing. Ditto the second wing when I move on to fuel it.

Pretty hard to miss putting the cap back on before flight if the keys are right there next to the cap.

....so Mike, I like this variation on the " put your keys in your shoes when you get to the party....."

never lost a pair of shoes ( or keys) that way. Surprised one or two buddies with the same kind of footwear I'm sure!

...ah, so, NO, I don't lanyard the caps. It WOULD keep them from rolling away, but setting them upside down on the wing does that.
Much bigger deal on high-wings I suppose.
Not a bad Idea to add to your pre-taxi, or run-up checklist;
" left cap - ON.....right cap - ON"

[greghughespdx]

Originally Posted by flyboy1963

"left cap - ON.....right cap - ON"

Been there, done that (losing a cap due to my distraction/inattention that is). Now I do what flyboy1963 says. It's on the checklist.

[9GT]

I have locking Andair gas caps and keep the gas cap key and ignition key on the same ring. You can not remove the key from the cap unless its in the installed lock position. No way can I take off without the ignition key.

[David Paule]

My deluxe caps didn't have any provisions for attaching a lanyard, so I created one. Looking carefully, I found a position in the plastic locking ring that had enough space for some safety wire. I drilled a #50 hole, cleaned out the cap, and wired the chain with a double loop.

I ended the chain 2.5 inches from the edge of the filler hole in the skin.



I verified that the lanyard has no impact upon the sealing or locking functions.

The chain, incidentally, weighs about a gram per inch, so it's fairly heavy. A lighter chain that I bought failed a pull-test. I'd figured that I wanted at least 15 pounds force capability. The bottom end of the chain is anchored by safety wire to one of the tank's baffles.

Dave

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by David Paule

I'd figured that I wanted at least 15 pounds force capability.

Yea, you want to be sure that the chain doesn't break while the cap is pounding the *#%$& out of the top of your wing while you fly a short pattern to get back on the ground and latch it properly.......