On Feb 11, 2008, at 5:44 AM, Sean Breheny wrote:

> I was thinking the same thing...if your fuel is being used up faster
> than it should (and it seems that it was doing so at a dramatic rate
> in this case!), and your engines are running normally, it would seem
> that a fuel leak is the only possibility (other than an incorrect fuel
> gauge).


Yep.  Good pilots calculate expected fuel burn versus planned fuel  
burn and if they're not matching, they pay closer attention.

Bad pilots wake up around the time the engine quits.  Then they're  
"heroes" if the manage to land the damn thing safely.  (Rewarding bad  
behavior is never the right thing to do.)


> One thing which may have contributed to this: I bet that fuel leaks
> are VERY rare on commercial aircraft and so it would be one of the
> last things you'd think of.


Yep.  Additionally most newer airliners and many other aircraft will  
WARN if the fuel remaining isn't looking like it'll get you to your  
final destination safely with a margin to spare.  Especially now that  
GPS is common -- GPS can easily calculate groundspeed.  A pilot has to  
have some accurate winds-aloft forecasts and must check that those are  
accurate manually against older "dumber" instruments, but every  
licensed pilot from the bottom ratings to the top, is required to  
demonstrate that they can do this before their license is issued.

Not all pilots pay attention enough nor have the discipline to keep  
doing the "right things" after hundreds and hundreds of "boring"  
flights.  But, it's still the pilot's job to pay attention and fly the  
plane, no matter how much "safety" or "helping" systems there are on  
board.

All it takes is the initial fuel load, the outside temperature, the  
power setting, the operating handbook numbers for fuel burn (or some  
memorized "rule of thumb" numbers with margin built in) and a watch  
(timer)... to see if the fuel is departing the tanks faster than  
expected.  And the discipline to check it at every waypoint yourself.   
Never trust the gauges...

--
Nate Duehr
nate@natetech.com

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