Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: popeye on January 30, 2017, 11:15:48 AM
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I'd like to have an indicator lamp on the fuel gauge that would blink red when the total fuel supply was down to less than 6 minutes of Mil power.
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Was that a thing?
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Was that a thing?
The F6F had a warning light that lit when the reserve tank held 50 gallons or less. Not sure about other planes, but since we have the E6B it doesn't seem like a warning light would be a stretch.
It might be simpler to just have the "auto tank selected" text (EXT, AFT, FWD, AUX, etc.) turn from white to red when there is 6 minutes or less of Mil power.
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+1
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I know the 109 had them
+1
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Meh...I always have my E6B selected on the clipboard. I don't even look at the gauge in the plane. Kinda like my real plane. It has a fuel gauge but I sure don't trust it.
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Meh...I always have my E6B selected on the clipboard. I don't even look at the gauge in the plane. Kinda like my real plane. It has a fuel gauge but I sure don't trust it.
Dad always said the only thing a fuel gauge tells you in an aircraft is that the aircraft is equipped with a fuel guage.
I'm always a fan of "if it had it, it should be in." I don't use the guage at all either though, e6b for me all the time.
Wiley.
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If you dont have any fuel meter then you don't have any idea how much it's in there.
Im sure pilots of ww2 never checked every fuel cell before taking off, an E6b is only of help if you had as much fuel as you think you have.
Some military and commercial airline have crashed just because the thought they had x amount of fuel, but they didn't.
Dad always said the only thing a fuel gauge tells you in an aircraft is that the aircraft is equipped with a fuel guage.
I'm always a fan of "if it had it, it should be in." I don't use the guage at all either though, e6b for me all the time.
Wiley.
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Dad always said the only thing a fuel gauge tells you in an aircraft is that the aircraft is equipped with a fuel guage.
I'm always a fan of "if it had it, it should be in." I don't use the guage at all either though, e6b for me all the time.
Wiley.
Same in a boat....its a reference for cost....fuel flow meters is my prime "gas gauge"... I will say that Military gauges are bit more accurate/reliable than civilian:)
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If you dont have any fuel meter then you don't have any idea how much it's in there.
Im sure pilots of ww2 never checked every fuel cell before taking off, an E6b is only of help if you had as much fuel as you think you have.
Some military and commercial airline have crashed just because the thought they had x amount of fuel, but they didn't.
I'll bet somebody checked each tank on the aircraft to be sure it had the desired fuel amount in it. It's just what you do. I know I sure as hell checked every fuel tank on an airplane I was going to fly before every flight. Only a fool wouldn't.
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So, to use E6B to compute remaining duration and range don't you need accurate fuel flow information? How was this done in WWII? Just looking at the pilot handbooks for F6F and P-47, there is no mention of a fuel flow gauge. (There are fuel quantity gauges and "low fuel" warning lights -- with inaccuracy noted.)
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WWII pilots likely did walk arounds and, even if they didn't, I guarantee the crew chief knew exactly how much gas was in that plane before the pilot got anywhere near it. Once the pilot got in it, his fuel gauge was likely a watch and an E6B.
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Sounds like our "digital E6B" is way more accurate than the WWII E6B plus instrumentation. But, I'm guessing they didn't often plan to deliberately land with less than 6 minutes of fuel. :O
Even though it would also be more accurate than the WWII version, I'd still like a "low fuel" indicator to know at a glance that it is time to think about bugging out. Seems like having the tank selected text turn from white to red would be easier than changing the instrument panel art.
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At least German pilots relied on the "red light" lamp, they knew they had to go home or land elsewhere.
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Why wouldn't you use the fuel gauge?
Perhaps not rely on it 100%, but definitely use it for some kind of reference. :airplane:
Coogan
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Why wouldn't you use the fuel gauge?
I do use the fuel gauge, but fly different airplanes and don't always remember what "6 minutes" is on the gauge for a
particular plane, but a red indicator would be hard to mistake. Besides, it would "realistic" and be cool. :D
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I do use the fuel gauge, but fly different airplanes and don't always remember what "6 minutes" is on the gauge for a
particular plane, but a red indicator would be hard to mistake. Besides, it would "realistic" and be cool. :D
I'm never in the air long enough for my fuel-indicator to get very low. :(
Coogan
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Having several thousand hours in WWII era aircraft, I can tell you that fuel gauges of that era are not particularly reliable.
Sure some have fancy markings and such that might make you think you have a specific amount of fuel remaining but they cannot be relied upon.
The procedure was to fill the tank and look and make sure it was full OR physically measure the fuel with a graduated stick if the tank was partially full.
Once you start the engines, you track your power settings and time and make sure what you see on the gauges sort of jives with your planned fuel burns.
Colmbo can back me up on this.
What AH calls an E6B is a actually a very sophisticated fuel management computer that does what only modern aircraft do. It tells you exact fuel load, minutes and range at current power setting/speed. We have way too much information for WWII flying but thats okay.
We are missing some basic tools such as a distance measuring tool but its sorta easy to guesstimate range with grid squares.
What i would like to see is a player settable fuel light instead of a hard coded low fuel light but thats just me.
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What i would like to see is a player settable fuel light instead of a hard coded low fuel light but thats just me.
Even better. :aok
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Why wouldn't you use the fuel gauge?
Perhaps not rely on it 100%, but definitely use it for some kind of reference. :airplane:
Exactly. Even tho not ultra accurate they are usually consistent in the error. A gauge can let you know you've sprung a leak for instance if you notice the gauge is reading abnormally low vs your fuel burn computation.
For the Cessna jump planes I flew we had a graduated stick --- in the 206 fuel to the third mark on each side was enough for 4 loads to 12,500 with a legal reserve. My 182 with enough fuel for one load would have both gauges sitting on the red empty mark as I taxied out -- great for causing stress in visiting jumpers or noobs. :)
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My 1948 Cessna 170 gauges were useless unless the tank was empty. Then they worked great. My current plane doesn't technically have a fuel gauge but the tank is opaque and I have a reverse camera pointed at it and I can literally see the fuel level. Stopwatch has always been my fuel gauge.