Sport Pilot Talk

Fear not, I shall never be mentioned in a SportPilotTalk thread.

Eddie, thanks for your posts...and especially these two recent ones. They deserve thoughtful consideration by all of us.

Delete

Agree FFF. Anyone who doesn't, consider this:

Most LSAs are configured with a pair of 12-15 gallon tanks. 30 minutes of fuel, generously, is 2.5-4 gallons. Split this evenly between the two tanks and we have 1.25-2 gallons per tank. Grab a 5 gallon plastic gas can and put a .6-.75 gallons in it. Turn it sideways and hold it up to a bright light (like the sun). Notice that you don't have to get too far from level before a corner is dry. If that's where the fuel port is, you're now sucking air. Proportionally, I'm guessing an aircraft tank is wider and flatter, so .25 hour's worth of fuel would be even shallower.

Food for thought.

You can put me in the I leave reserve fuel at about 3 to 4 gal per tank camp. Just don't want to risk it.

nbjeeptj wrote: reserve fuel at about 3 to 4 gal per tank

My flight school policy is even more conservative. In addition to landing with no less than 3 gallons per side (which is twice FAA legal day VFR minimums), students and renters are not allowed to even begin a flight with less than 5 gallons in each tank. Even if they're only going around the pattern once. And, they're not allowed to trust the fuel gauges. There's a high precision instrument in the plane (wooden dowel with notches every 2 gallons, carved out with a Swiss army knife), and they're required to dip the tanks both before and after every flight, when they fill out the Hobbs sheet. Helps with fuel burn awareness.

ussyorktown wrote:Yes. If I stop posting it is because you are 100% correct and I was staring at my ninety nine cent app with my head down inches from the screen, with gusts all around and I ended up in a horrible ball of carbon, glue and Rotax parts and old Mad Magazines and Playboy Magazines.

How prophetic.

My personal policy: top the tanks off every time as long as weight and balance allow (which is always since I fly with my wife and my 4 year old at the most. Never trust the fuel gauges, stick the tanks! IPads are wonderful, but their GPS can be 20 feet plus off and can have erratic readings. Better to use them as a supplement to instruments, not a primary flight instrument.

TimTaylor wrote:

ussyorktown wrote:Yes. If I stop posting it is because you are 100% correct and I was staring at my ninety nine cent app with my head down inches from the screen, with gusts all around and I ended up in a horrible ball of carbon, glue and Rotax parts and old Mad Magazines and Playboy Magazines.

How prophetic.

Is Bernath still out suing people? He was SUCH an idiot.

No, he crashed this week.

TimTaylor wrote:No, he crashed this week.

Ah! I just Googled it. Yup, VERY prophetic.

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2 ... 061153001/

Didn't know the guy, by all accounts the schadenfreude about him is justified, but might I request the Mods lock this thread and perhaps even delete the deceased's prior posts?

Nothing to be gained by continuing the conversation and perhaps even this mope deserves a little respect for the dead from us all?

A STRONG vote to keep the thread open and to allow the posts to remain for posterity.

There are lessons to be learned from them.

Schadenfreude involves getting pleasure from the misery of others. I personally get zero feeling of pleasure at Mr. Bernath’s demise. Just frustrated and saddened by the apparent inevitability of it.

FastEddieB wrote:A STRONG vote to keep the thread open and to allow the posts to remain for posterity.

There are lessons to be learned from them.

Schadenfreude involves getting pleasure from the misery of others. I personally get zero feeling of pleasure at Mr. Bernath’s demise. Just frustrated and saddened by the apparent inevitability of it.

Agreed. I actually think those who harassed him were in the wrong also. If he broke the law, it should have been handled by law enforcement.

I think in this case the thread should be locked ( is there anything more to add here ? ) but definitely kept for posterity.