rjcthree

rjcthree

Well Known Member
I've searched through posts, and found much discussion about how much usable fuel there is in an RV-9A, the number being right about 18 gallons before things get quiet, but no final answer on placard/POH quantity listed.

For those of you that stayed true to plans and used the float sensors, what did you actually PLACARD the usable fuel to?

I am trying to prepare my paperwork and have an engraving job done now, and I am comfortable with the consistency that I see in actual usable, I want to get a feel for everybody's comfort factor. No discussion of 30/45 minute reserve required. I do not have a totalizer at this time.

My go forward plan is to mark the caps(and POH) as 17G usable. Rick 90432
 
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18 Gal 100LL

Hi Rick, although I can put 18.1 and 18.2 gal in my two tanks there is no need for the placard to say anything other then 18 which is the design spec. This is a legal requirement. It may be helpful to the fuel person approximately know the max fuel that can be add.

Kent
 
Rick,

Useable fuel is almost the entire 18 gallons, maybe a pint short of that (unless you're flying uncoordinated).

greg
 
+/- 5%

I will be doing the engraving before I get a chance to verify 18 gal. Using a general rule of thumb of +5%, I get to 17 gal as a good realistic minimum. If I find less than 17 gal in my testing, I'll remake the caps. If it's about 18 gal, I'll consider 17 a great number for the POH and the caps.

I'm so conservative anyway about fuel, in the car or plane, I feel ok about 'wasting' a 12 minutes of endurance. :)

Strong objections? Rick 90432
 
Your airplane, your choice. I doubt any of us would want to be pushing the limit of having only two gallons left anyway!

You could just mark the caps as "18 gal capacity" (which should be true) and then put the 17 (or whatever number you find) in the POH.

cheers,
greg
 
I would be concerned....

If you mislabel the fuel capacity in the poh (and maybe on the fuel cap) that that would be the basis for FAA infraction. IE. your quantity upon landing would be the required amount above the specified (POH) amount.

Follow the standards that are common in the industry with labeling. If you ever sold you plane and the next person to own it had a problem and you weren't standard, than you may be facing legal action if that resulted in a problem for them.

Personally I like to fill up the tanks when they get about 3/4 used up. The labeling on the fuel cap or POH doesn't do much to help me with that, it is watching fuel flow and hours of operation that helps me understand when to add to the tank.

Kent
 
I would use the actual capacity. For flight planning drop a gallon or so then add in reserve. Two different issues.
 
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