Airplane Fuel Stops On Cross Country Flights
Posted by Jeffrey on March 11th, 2011
When I was a flight instructor in Florida, my favorite flight students were multi-engine instrument students. My second favorite students were multi-engine commercial students.
Training multi-engine instrument students was intense and a challenge. There were hundreds of items to teach in a relatively short period of time. Lots of work but lots of reward. I was usually exhausted by the end of the training day when it was full of instrument training.
Commercial students were different though. At some point in their training we would have to do some long cross-country flights in both day and night VFR conditions. Though there was work to do, you could enjoy a nice long VFR flight.
Planning and organizing the flight involved many issues: Distance, weather, fuel requirements — to name a few. But one thing I was always interested in was fuel stops.
It was interesting to see if the student properly considered where they were going to stop for fuel because fuel stops where more than just about getting fuel.
Not many flight students considered their personal endurance when planning their trips. Usually all they saw was that they needed to go from one airport to another airport and it had to be this distance, they needed to fly for this long, and then go on to the next stop.
But what about personal comfort? What if you had to stop somewhere because, well because mother nature said you had to? Get my point? Are there facilities to accommodate you and your passengers?
What about the fuel load you were carrying as the airplane load? It costs to you to carry extra fuel but then you don’t want to carry too little either. You want to carry enough to get to your destination and an alternate, if necessary. If you carry too much fuel, then you are going pay for it somewhere like performance, range, and speed. But sometimes it is good to carry extra fuel if the cost of the fuel at your destination is considerably more. Tankering fuel can be a good idea. Check the price of fuel at your destination.
During the long commercial cross-country flight, it is suppose to be in VFR conditions but what would you do if for some reason the airport you are going to went IFR. Where are you going to go? Do you have an alternate airport and do you meet the minimum IFR fuel requirements? What kind of approaches does the airport have? Do you have the required working equipment if you do need to make an IFR approach to the airport?
One of the things I really enjoyed was going places where my student and I could take the fixed-based operator (FBO) courtesy car and visit a local eating establishment. (Remember the book, “The $100 Hamburger“?) You will want to check with the FBO and see if it is available. I’ve gotten to ride in some really cool, old cars at some of these airports and seen some amazing local attractions.
What maintenance facilities are at the airport you are going to or nearby airports that you may have to fly to? It is fine that the airport that you are flying to doesn’t have maintenance but consider nearby airports that are within flying distance just in case.
On one flight, we flew to Key West. After taking our break, when we went to the run-up area for departure. One of our magnetos was shot and we had to go back to the ramp. Luckily the maintenance on the airfield was able to sort it out quickly and we were on our way again. It was a good thing to because a huge summer storm hit right after we left and if we had been there when it hit, we wouldn’t have been able to leave until the next morning.
Finally, not all FBO’s are open 24 hours. When my student and I would do the long night cross-country flight, we would fly late into the night and we would make sure that the FBO was going to be open when we got there. Coffee was a must that late at night. Plus it was always helpful if they had computers so that you could get updated weather reports. Having something like the Jeppesen Airport Informatin Directory is essential and a great investment.
So the next time you are doing a long cross-country flight think about these smaller items. It makes the trip more enjoyable and a better experience. That is what flying airplanes is all about after all, don’t you think?
To Your Flying Success,
Jeffrey
P.S. Don’t forget to close your flight plan!
