I made a video last year called "water in the fuel". We actually got a TON of water out of the tanks. I looked at an Ercoupe a few years back where the fuel drains were rusted solid. The guy hadn't checked his fuel in a decade. He said "I put it in a hangar....why would I sump the tanks??" I didn't buy the plane. :)
If you create a fueling checklist then you don't have to worry about forgetting to sump your fuel after fueling up the plane. In the military we have a checklist for everything. Use the checklist, if you don't have one for a task create one. You don't have to worry about taxing away from the fuel pier with your grounding wire on either. Use a checklist no matter how many times you have done a task in the past.
🙋🏻♂️guilty. 13,000+ hour airline pilot and retired Air Force pilot. I have yet to fly the perfect flight, but I keep trying. Learn from your mistakes, change your habit pattern and come up with a reminder (like some have mentioned below), and move on.
Absolutely that’s why I put this program on here and some of the comments I received on Facebook we’re pretty negative saying oh my gosh I can’t believe you forgot to set up your fuel and someone like that but it happens to all of us and that’s why I decided to take my fuel sample out and put in my seat so I wouldn’t forget and I just wanted to share it with others so thank you for your admission of guilt! And thanks for watching! It’s comments like these that keep everybody safe!
Nope! Not a lier and have never forgotten. EVER!!! When I refuel, it was drilled into me that 1) wait 5 minutes AFTER fueling and THEN do a Sump Check. This allows whatever water may be in the fuel to collect near the Sump Drain, and be MUCH more visible of any contamination. 2) while waiting... go take care of any 'personal business' and pay for the fuel. (Coffee WORKS!!) Enjoy these videos. Fly safe!! =)
Afraid that if I do that, the sump tool will fire up the plane and just leave without me. No, that little guy will never get the chance as long as I can help it. Great tip BTW, guilty as recent as yesterday too.
Sump = to take a sample and inspect it for debris or water. I’m guessing it is given the name because you take the samples from the tanks sump drains - the lowest points of the fuel tank.
I never forget to sump fuel. It's part of my preflight checklist. Checking fuel sumps immediately after refueling is pointless in that it take the tanks about 30 mins to settle so that you can get a good fuel sample. That was a tip I learned from my DPE.
There was a recent thread on Pilots of America - guy pulled a quart of water out of his poor 150 that was recently topped by the fields fuel truck 😑 30 seconds sumping your tanks could save your life.
I always sump before refuel, or as part of a prefight but never after a refuel unless it has an hour to stand, why you ask, well as the fuel is put in it moves around the tank and takes all the water and contamination and can hold it in suspension for a time (so you need time for it to settle). This was demonstrated to me years ago, we sumped an aircraft after refuel nothing appeared, we resumped it an hour later and found water and contamination, this was not from the fuel it was already in the aircraft that had sat out for two months with part filled tanks and we knew it was in there but it was the sernior pilot doing it to prove a point.
Sumping immediately after refueling can still tell you if the wrong type of fuel (eg. Jet A) was pumped into your plane, so there is still value in that. Sumping a few minutes after refueling can reveal water or larger contaminants. But you are right, waiting an hour would be better. And waiting 24 hours would be best. See where I’m going with this? As far as I know, neither the FAA, the airframers, oil refineries, fuel distributors, etc. have put out any guidance on how long to wait after refueling before sumping the fuel. I wish we had better data to go on.
@@cessna177flyer3 That should not happen if you checked the pump / bowster before fill (which is poor managment if you did not). It is generally best if you are doing an on route fuel stop to land fuel then have comfort break and snack then sump. Normally it is best to fill aircraft before hangaring (unless you are likely to only need a part fuel load for you next flight for W&B) so condensation is not formed and then sump as part of Before Flight.
@@flyingkub there have been incidents where the AVGAS truck was mis-fueled with Jet-A and incidents where FBOs have mis-fueled planes when the pilot was not present. I know there are nozzles and procedures in place to prevent this from happening, and yet…Best to check your sump sample for color and smell, in addition to the presence of contaminants.
@@cessna177flyer3 It is not something I have heard of here in the UK but I suppose it probably has. That said why sump twice, once incase you had the wrong fuel (to me very unlikely) and second to find water / contamination (far more likely). S o fuel give it half an hour to settle and check then.
To be honest, I've never forgot. Was always part of my walk around check out procedure. But that was over 40 years ago! Haven't flown for that many years, but seriously considering renewing my license and getting back up in the air! Your videos, along with others have inspired me to consider getting my wings back!
By all means! Absolutely! You should certainly renew your license it’ll give you a whole new outlook on life and it’ll make you feel like you’re 25 again! Thanks for watching!
@@Over50andLearningToFly Yeah, I was 24 when I got my PPL, and 25 when I earned my CPL. But life got in the way and flying took a back seat. But now, I'm getting that "itch" again!
I laid out almost 40 years. Got the itch one day. Took my flight review. Shortly afterwards bought a plane. That was four years and almost 200 hours ago.
Been flying 42 years and never have forgotten.
Always fuel before putting your plane up after you fly. I never ever fuel before I fly.
I made a video last year called "water in the fuel". We actually got a TON of water out of the tanks. I looked at an Ercoupe a few years back where the fuel drains were rusted solid. The guy hadn't checked his fuel in a decade. He said "I put it in a hangar....why would I sump the tanks??" I didn't buy the plane. :)
Yes … some people don’t realize that air actually has water in it ! Thank for watching !
If you create a fueling checklist then you don't have to worry about forgetting to sump your fuel after fueling up the plane. In the military we have a checklist for everything. Use the checklist, if you don't have one for a task create one. You don't have to worry about taxing away from the fuel pier with your grounding wire on either. Use a checklist no matter how many times you have done a task in the past.
Nice hack
That was a short one😊
Ted- great tip! Great minds think alike because I started doing the exact same thing a few months ago for the VERY SAME REASON. 🤣
That’s awesome!
🙋🏻♂️guilty. 13,000+ hour airline pilot and retired Air Force pilot. I have yet to fly the perfect flight, but I keep trying. Learn from your mistakes, change your habit pattern and come up with a reminder (like some have mentioned below), and move on.
Absolutely that’s why I put this program on here and some of the comments I received on Facebook we’re pretty negative saying oh my gosh I can’t believe you forgot to set up your fuel and someone like that but it happens to all of us and that’s why I decided to take my fuel sample out and put in my seat so I wouldn’t forget and I just wanted to share it with others so thank you for your admission of guilt! And thanks for watching! It’s comments like these that keep everybody safe!
Nope! Not a lier and have never forgotten. EVER!!!
When I refuel, it was drilled into me that 1) wait 5 minutes AFTER fueling and THEN do a Sump Check. This allows whatever water may be in the fuel to collect near the Sump Drain, and be MUCH more visible of any contamination. 2) while waiting... go take care of any 'personal business' and pay for the fuel. (Coffee WORKS!!)
Enjoy these videos. Fly safe!! =)
That’s awesome… glad you are on top of it - thanks for watching!!!!
Great tip.
Passenger: Arghhh!!! I have something poking me in the butt. What is it? It smells like AvGas.
🤣🤣🤣
Afraid that if I do that, the sump tool will fire up the plane and just leave without me. No, that little guy will never get the chance as long as I can help it.
Great tip BTW, guilty as recent as yesterday too.
That’s awesome I’m glad I wasn’t the only one! Thanks for watching!
Did you mean the title to say "dump your fuel" rather than "sump your fuel"?
Sump = to take a sample and inspect it for debris or water. I’m guessing it is given the name because you take the samples from the tanks sump drains - the lowest points of the fuel tank.
I never forget to sump fuel. It's part of my preflight checklist. Checking fuel sumps immediately after refueling is pointless in that it take the tanks about 30 mins to settle so that you can get a good fuel sample. That was a tip I learned from my DPE.
There was a recent thread on Pilots of America - guy pulled a quart of water out of his poor 150 that was recently topped by the fields fuel truck 😑
30 seconds sumping your tanks could save your life.
You sure about that 30 minutes? Have you ever dropped water into a cup of 100LL? It falls/collects pretty quick.
What a great tip! I’ll have to incorporate this one. Hasn’t happened to me yet but it’s bound to happen eventually.
Yeah it will I didn’t think it would either until it happened to me. Thanks for watching!
Good idea…I have forgotten to sump several times!
Same here ! That’s why I wanted to share ! Thanks for watching!
I always sump before refuel, or as part of a prefight but never after a refuel unless it has an hour to stand, why you ask, well as the fuel is put in it moves around the tank and takes all the water and contamination and can hold it in suspension for a time (so you need time for it to settle). This was demonstrated to me years ago, we sumped an aircraft after refuel nothing appeared, we resumped it an hour later and found water and contamination, this was not from the fuel it was already in the aircraft that had sat out for two months with part filled tanks and we knew it was in there but it was the sernior pilot doing it to prove a point.
Sumping immediately after refueling can still tell you if the wrong type of fuel (eg. Jet A) was pumped into your plane, so there is still value in that. Sumping a few minutes after refueling can reveal water or larger contaminants. But you are right, waiting an hour would be better. And waiting 24 hours would be best. See where I’m going with this? As far as I know, neither the FAA, the airframers, oil refineries, fuel distributors, etc. have put out any guidance on how long to wait after refueling before sumping the fuel. I wish we had better data to go on.
@@cessna177flyer3 That should not happen if you checked the pump / bowster before fill (which is poor managment if you did not). It is generally best if you are doing an on route fuel stop to land fuel then have comfort break and snack then sump. Normally it is best to fill aircraft before hangaring (unless you are likely to only need a part fuel load for you next flight for W&B) so condensation is not formed and then sump as part of Before Flight.
@@flyingkub there have been incidents where the AVGAS truck was mis-fueled with Jet-A and incidents where FBOs have mis-fueled planes when the pilot was not present. I know there are nozzles and procedures in place to prevent this from happening, and yet…Best to check your sump sample for color and smell, in addition to the presence of contaminants.
@@cessna177flyer3 It is not something I have heard of here in the UK but I suppose it probably has. That said why sump twice, once incase you had the wrong fuel (to me very unlikely) and second to find water / contamination (far more likely). S o fuel give it half an hour to settle and check then.
To be honest, I've never forgot. Was always part of my walk around check out procedure. But that was over 40 years ago! Haven't flown for that many years, but seriously considering renewing my license and getting back up in the air! Your videos, along with others have inspired me to consider getting my wings back!
By all means! Absolutely! You should certainly renew your license it’ll give you a whole new outlook on life and it’ll make you feel like you’re 25 again! Thanks for watching!
@@Over50andLearningToFly Yeah, I was 24 when I got my PPL, and 25 when I earned my CPL. But life got in the way and flying took a back seat. But now, I'm getting that "itch" again!
I laid out almost 40 years. Got the itch one day. Took my flight review. Shortly afterwards bought a plane. That was four years and almost 200 hours ago.
lol. me too. I got my PPL in 1988, last flight in '92. Getting the itch
Guilty and now do the same thing to remind me. Love the videos.