N
ORMAL
O
PERATING
P
ROCEDURES
R
EVISION
:
-
D
ATE
:
12/29/04
P
AGE
:
27
Copyright
2004 Glasair Aviation, LLC Arlington, Washington All rights reserved
4-11 FUEL MANAGEMENT
Fuel management in the Sportsman is very simple, since both tanks
feed simultaneously. However, the tanks will not necessarily drain at
equal rates. Slight differences in vent pressures, uncoordinated flight
and other factors cause fuel to be drawn from one tank more rapidly
than the other. This is normal and no cause for concern.
Determine by careful experimentation what your airplane’s fuel burn
per hour is at various commonly used power settings such as 65% and
75% power. Plan your flights so that you always have, at a minimum,
the legally required reserve on board for the type of flight you are
conducting. Under most circumstances, maintaining a more generous
fuel reserve than the legal minimum is strongly recommended. Always
keep track of your fuel status in terms of flight time and fuel burn per
hour; never rely on the fuel gauges.
NOTE
Your Sportsman is equipped with the auxillary fuel tanks which
gives you an additional 20 gals. of fuel capacity. Each auxiliary
tank is drained into its respective main tank by an electric
transfer pump. The recommended procedure is to burn down
the main tanks until less than 10 gals. total remain, and then to
turn on the transfer pumps to refill the mains. Turning on the
pumps with
more
than 10 gals. in the mains risks pumping fuel
overboard through the vents. It takes the pumps approximately
20 minutes to drain the auxiliary tanks.