Its a GAS

Now there's a scary thought: Bayley in an airplane.

Jeff, would you try landing on Fifth Ave @ 2:30 AM?

If you do: please take a picture and post it on POG.

You're the man!

Great story Peter! That should pretty much end the thought of anyone stretching thier fuel supply.:o To bad we didn't know about the toad running out of hyrdo carbons while at SF, it wouldn't have been pretty. That Brian can sure keep a secret.

Warren - I use the Pro Driver to keep track of fuel used, I don't think it has the capability to calculate remaining fuel unless someone can correct me.

For all you newcomers at POG, never trust the Flame Snuffer from Texas, aka JDUB, Anaconda Boy (picture below, he didn't want his identity shown bribing Mildred). His MOA is to get you to use MORE fuel in hopes of a fire somewhere east of sandbackistan so he can make a gazillion Lew bucks while woofing down a goat cheese sandwich watching his guys snuff the fire. He always needs more 100LL for the forked tail doctor killer he fly's and Lew bucks are just no problem. He also is the expert in poop. Just read his posts, most have a reference to butt or poop related issues.

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The gauges in my Mooney had a mind of their own......I used the old time and distance method of fuel management. We still do on the Liberty. Since we run the interstate systems there is always a Flying J or Love's figured into our flight plan. I always schedule fuel at or above 100 gallons which usually coinsides with a rest stop or bathroom break. Prior to leaving our home we program our Co-Pilot gps system with all our scheduled stops. After all the posts of horror stories about running out of fuel....I make sure not allow that to happen. :eek: Ken

Warren

When I picked up my bus in Indiana for the drive back to Texas it filled it up somewhere in Illinois. By the time I reached the Texas Oklahoma state line, the guage was at 1/4. By the time I reached Dallas, it was between 1/4 and E. Stopped and put in 130 gallons. I thought that the bus must have a 160 gallon tank instead of the 250 claimed in its spec sheets. I stopped at Prevost to have everything checked and they confirmed that it did have the auxillary 90 gallon tank for a total of 250 gallons. Driving conservatively I can get 500 miles on half a tank (via the guage). The next 200 take it down well below 1/4. Each time I stop to fill up, it never takes more than 180 gallons (always about 5 miles to the gallon). I am convinced that the guage is a little conservative in my bus. However, I tend to stop for fuel after 750 miles regardless becuase my wife would not be my wife if I run out of fuel and I have grown fond of her. The easiest way for me to be comfortable is to use the 5 mile to the gallon rule and fill up when I need 150 gallons or so.

Fuel Fill: My theiry is the fuel gauge serves only to fill the hole in the dashboard. My co-pilot keeps a log and updates it at every fillup with gallons, milage and mpg. Generator use is seldom, but noted use is taken into consideration. I plan my next fuel stop before starting the bus. When you get as much white hair (wisdom) as Lew and I you tend to err on the safe side. I fuel about every 80-100 gallons, leaving a mysterious 60 gallons left.

Regarding the 160 gallon vs. 225 vs. 250 gallon size on the tanks and not being sure or trusting what is in the manual, I can say that for my bus I know it is close to 250 gallons because I have personally put 225 gallons in the bus before so it's probabley 250. I think I recall that the maximum size tank Prevost puts is like 225 and the aux. tank (added by the converter?) adds the other balance. The small tank is not a reserve of course unless you have a buttom to mash to activate the reserve of course. I'm certain the plane guys are intimatley familiar with this. The small aux tank on the bus would be described more like a "feeder tank" I believe. Are you guys sure that some of you only have 160 gallons ? Is this on 93 and older chassis maybe ? I think my 94 45 foot also had 250 gallons.

I haven't run out of gas yet and I'm below 1/8 of a tank.

Tuga- I would deffinitley be a canadidate for street landings if I had a full size plane. I got crazy into R/C plans and choopers and still have a big collection, dormant at the moment. I crashed a load of planes from low receiver batteries. They used to call me "crash Bayley". I was good at stunts, bad at maintainence. Luckily I didn't build any of those planes and I only watched a few hundred buck get what they call "re-kitted" instead of watching all the time go down with the plane. I used to fly the birds until I ran out of gas and glide in and all sorts of stupid stuff like that. I rented a helipoter once for an hour of flying lessons and the instructor advised that I keep crashign the models instead. I can give an R/C chooper demo at POG III if eveyone has on bomb squad gear. One of the reasons I want a trailer with a workshop is to get back into the planes and go to events and contests and have a place to haul them and tinker with them. It also doubles as a safe house for the observers.

If you folks had the wisdom to buy a well equipped Liberty you wouldn't be moaning and groaning.

With 298 gallons of fuel on board, even with OTR air and four cruise airs, Ole A1 buys fuel because it is cheap, not because I have to.

Eat your hearts out.

Well, seems the thing to do is verify the fuel capicity of the bus, then start paying attention to the pro driver & mileage and work out a compromise.

I still feel that 48% is a bit too much reserve, and 20% would be more like it (32 gal to spare), round it to 50 maybe...

I have heard our baby 20KW generators burn about a gallon every two hours as well, to add into the calculation

Thanks for all the good thoughts & comments!

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Even at the best price this is still the way I feel

The folks in this club never cease to keep me laughing. Very good Rodger where did you come up with that guage, thats hilarious!