At 08:34 PM 1/19/99 -0600, you wrote: > >> It's a nice airplane, but if anything ever does me in, it's going >> to be this idiotic fuel system. >> >> --Steve >> > >Now, wait a minute, Steve. Fred designed the fuel system to make it as >idiot-proof as possible. No switching tanks, nothing complicated. > >I can easily reach both fuel valves in flight. In fact, my Coupe, ser. >no. 1519 has the nose-to-carb valve handle right on the instrument panel, >near the tachometer. A long rod connects the handle to the valve. All >the older coupes had it there. The newer ones eliminated the rod, so the >handle is on the valve, under the panel, in a harder to reach spot.
I think that, in order to make it hard to run out of gas,
he sacrificed crashworthiness for the sake of simple operation.
He may have been an aeronautical genius, but I don't think he was
thinking too straight when he thought up the fuel system.
I don't know about the system in the earlier planes,
but this one has several features I do not like:
1. There is a big gas tank, with at least three fuel lines, right there
under the panel along with electrical busses. You can't shut off
all the power under the panel, even with the master switch.
2. You can't shut off the valves in flight. This is dangerous, and I'm
trying to find a way to take care of it, I'll let you know if I come
up with anything. Your panel knob sounds like a good deal.
3. If a hose comes off the pump outlet, all fuel will drain from the
header tank into the engine area with no way to shut it off. I
don't think this is the case with earlier planes, but for some reason
it's a Mooney "feature". Maybe Alon too.
4. There are two very wimpy mil H-6000 rubber fuel lines running
right past the exhaust manifold. This was easy to fix.
I'm spoiled by Cessnas. I realize that a low-wing airplane has certain
problems to overcome that the high-wing planes don't have, but I prefer
simpler systems, like in the Cessna 310 for example :-)
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Steve Dold ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://home.pacbell.net/sdold/
Say NO to useless over-quoting
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