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Fuel

Controlling your aircraft, using the autopilot etc.

Fuel

Postby jestepp65 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:11 pm

Hi,

It has came to my attention that if the fuel is not balanced then the plane will not fly right. I fill all my tanks to max usually because i don't know how to determine how much fuel is needed for the flight. I do know that pilots are required at least 3 Fuel Systems (Fuel for flight, Fuel in case of a longer flight, and extra extra fuel for just in case) and i only know that because i have spoken to pilots in my area. How would i determine fuel for specific plane. I did onlineflightplanner.org but it doesn't tell me how to balance it by putting so much in what tanks.
Best Regards,
UA-1056 (Find me in the skies!)
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Re: Fuel

Postby wkitty42 » Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:41 am

you don't need some web site to tell you how to balance fuel in your tanks... you only need to think about it for a minute...

consider a craft that has five tanks, two in the left wing, two in the right wing, and one in the fuselage... how would you balance that load? we'll worry about pax and baggage for another day ;)
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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Re: Fuel

Postby Bomber » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:53 pm

You don't say what plane you're flying, does it matter... It might help with being able to give an example with an explaination..

However you're correct the disposition of fuel around an aircrft will effect it's CoG and as such it's performance/handling.

The planes designers will have named and positioned the tanks such that they minimise this movement, or make this movement towards making the plane more stable as opposed to less.

If you have a belly tank....use this first.
If you have wings tanks use this next.
If you have an auxiliary tank use this after this
Then use the main tank and finally the reserve tank.

Calculating how much fuel you need for the distance and height of the journey is another issue, but bare in mind that the more removeable weight (lugagge, munitions) that you add the less fuel you can add before you reach max take-off weight...
"If anyone ever tells you anything about an aeroplane which is so bloody complicated you can't understand it, take it from me - it's all balls" - R J Mitchel
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Re: Fuel

Postby jestepp65 » Wed Sep 13, 2017 5:21 pm

Thanks for the answers. I usually just fill them all up completely and click the balance button on the planes that have that. The airbus doesn't so i fill it all the way up. I am flying the Airbus A380 Omega version.
Best Regards,
UA-1056 (Find me in the skies!)
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