General How far can you go on an empty tank ?

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General How far can you go on an empty tank ?

theshootist

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An oversight found me in a VERY quiet part of The Fens and the last bar on my fuel gauge turned off. I had no choice but to drive on and hope for the best.

My google maps showed nearest petrol station at 20 miles. As I got nearer and nearer I was convinced I would run out but as the miles counted down, I was settling for a 5 mile, or 4 mile or 3 mile walk..............

Imagine my horror to arrive at the petrol station only to find it closed. Next nearest one another 10 miles. On I went, now pretty much accepting I was going to be walking quite a few miles fairly soon.

But - I actually made it !! So, on my particular car at least, on flat roads, I can get another 30 miles even when tank is showing empty !!
 
Cars have a reserve of fuel once the dial reads nil. I certainly wouldn't choose to play Russian roulette with it though!
 
You can go nowhere on an empty tank, but most cars have enough fuel left for about 50 miles when the gauge says no fuel left or the warning comes on.
Being in the Fens helps, a hill will cause the fuel to flow to the front or back of the tank uncovering the pick-up sooner. Don't trust this though. It amazing how many aircraft run out of fuel. Gary Powers the U2 spyplane pilot was killed in California when the traffic new helicopter he was flying ran out of fuel. The gauge had always over-read showing empty with 30 minutes left so he always flew on. Then they fixed the gauge......
The Scottish police helicopter that crashed in Glasgow continued on a non-essential task with the low fuel warning on with fatal results. There were other issues with the fuel system but it was a bad decision.


Robert G8RPI.
 
That always bugs me because when my fuel range reaches 50km to empty it stops counting down. Is that the norm with 500X's?
 
That always bugs me because when my fuel range reaches 50km to empty it stops counting down. Is that the norm with 500X's?

Normal with most cars. I've personal experience with Ford, Fiat, Audi cars of various models and they all stop the distance to go when the warning comes on or at 50 miles/km. I think it's to stop you blaming (claiming against) them if car stops before it says zero. They can't predict driving conditions so it's fair enough. You drive that last 50 miles/km at your own risk.


Regards,
Robert G8RPI.
 
My 500 was a 35 litre tank and if i filled up just after the last blob went i'd maybe get 30-30.5 in it. I haven't tried the same yet with the 500x but expect about the same.

In general though don't take risks, there's no bigger waste of time than running out of fuel.
 
I have in the past deliberately run the gauge down until the car ran out of gas, just so I knew how many miles it could manage...

I haven't tried it with the diesel though.. I dunno if it's just old wives tales but if they run out juice, they need to be re-primed or something... :D


Ralf S.

It's true. How much work it is depends on the design. Most modern cars just need plenty of fuel put in the tank and the ignition cycled on for for a few second five or six times. and then started. some older vehicles needed a bleed valve opened and / or a manual pump (often on the filter housing) operated until primed. Most cars will be OK unless you stop on a hill, don't have much fuel to put in or have a weak battery.

Robert G8RPI.
 
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It's no secret that an automobile can continue to run after the fuel light comes on. But I've heard that Corolla can make about 50 miles on an empty tank which is quite amazing to know.
 
I have done this in my 1.2 stilo and got about half a mile from home... had done 40 miles at the start of the 9ltr reserve (according to handbook) and in my 1.9d multijet running nearly 200hp I have done around 30miles on reserve then chickened out.
 
In the UK I never really bother about fuel management details as there are plenty of petrol stations and no "long" journeys involved.

However when driving form the UK to Italy and towing things take a completely different stance/objective. We are trying to cover 1000+ miles in two days with a normal route but expect alternatives to be forced upon us. This makes an interesting challenge in how far and when to fill up next. With two drivers every stop is time lost.

In countries like Belgium fuel stations are often closed but have "fuel card" facilities. Once a kind Belgian allowed us to fill up on their fuel card and we gave them the Euros.

In Italy the debit/credit card facilities on closed stations will not accept foreign cards.

Point to all of this is:

1) In the EU do not expect to be able to get fuel when you think you can
2) Be more conservative about how far to run the tank down before refilling. Your Sat Nav or road signs might say fuel in x miles but when you get there fuel may be off the menu
3) People's feedback on 500X reserve capacity is of great interest :)
 
You can go nowhere on an empty tank, but most cars have enough fuel left for about 50 miles when the gauge says no fuel left or the warning comes on.
Being in the Fens helps, a hill will cause the fuel to flow to the front or back of the tank uncovering the pick-up sooner. Don't trust this though. It amazing how many aircraft run out of fuel. Gary Powers the U2 spyplane pilot was killed in California when the traffic new helicopter he was flying ran out of fuel. The gauge had always over-read showing empty with 30 minutes left so he always flew on. Then they fixed the gauge......
The Scottish police helicopter that crashed in Glasgow continued on a non-essential task with the low fuel warning on with fatal results. There were other issues with the fuel system but it was a bad decision.


Robert G8RPI.
That's very interesting.
Anyone recall a 737 with many passengers on board ,North America / Canada . Pilot refueling asked for so many thousands of pounds of fuel ,the dispensing equipment gauge read in kilogrammes , ground crew calculated the conversion incorrectly.
Result aircraft ran out of fuel at cruise altitude out of glide range of any airport.
Pilot trained in area many years earlier and recalled an airfield. Airfield had been abandoned many years.
Pilot made choice to try for it regardless even though it had no emergency services because it was only option.
Pilot was an avid glider pilot in spare time. Saves lives of everyone on board by making a near perfect landing , nose gear collapsed. Minor injuries only . Aircraft was repaired and put back into service.
 
That's very interesting.
Anyone recall a 737 with many passengers on board ,North America / Canada . Pilot refueling asked for so many thousands of pounds of fuel ,the dispensing equipment gauge read in kilogrammes , ground crew calculated the conversion incorrectly.
Result aircraft ran out of fuel at cruise altitude out of glide range of any airport.
Pilot trained in area many years earlier and recalled an airfield. Airfield had been abandoned many years.
Pilot made choice to try for it regardless even though it had no emergency services because it was only option.
Pilot was an avid glider pilot in spare time. Saves lives of everyone on board by making a near perfect landing , nose gear collapsed. Minor injuries only . Aircraft was repaired and put back into service.

That was the "Gimli Glider" actually a 767 so pretty big. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
There a numerous cases, pilot error, re-fueller error, equipment failure or maintenance error. A case of the latter was fitting a ATR 42 ful gauge in a ATR 72. It worked but over-read. The crews did not check the gauges agains the up-load and eventually ran out. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050806-0 It's amazing how many pilots convince themselves that the fuel gauge must be under-reding rather than checking or diverting.
Part of my day job is designing aircraft fuel gauging and control systems so have to say:
"The above is my persoal opinion and may not represent the views of my employer"

Robert G8RPI.
 
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I know very well a retired Senior Captain 20,000+ hours (started on Tridents and ended up on 747s) and as any current commercial pilot for any of the large airlines will know fuel management/cost is a big issue.

Points/facts I got were that how much fuel and aircraft takes on depends on factors like:

o Flight Duration/Length
o Flight loading
o Flight Route
o Weather - read wind speeds, directions etc. plus likelihood of a diversion
o Availability/rarity of emergency landing airports - like over Russia/China/.. unpopulated expanses
o etc.

Ultimately it is the Captains decision.

Now here come the crunch/pressure factor. It is now quite common (well in some airlines) that Captains/Flights get rated by management on how much excess fuel they take/carry for given flight routes because every kilo more than is required or used is expensive to carry. This means that there can be a race to the bottom where one or more captains are criticised by flight management because another captain does the same trip with less carried fuel.

I heard that there have been some close calls where due to diversions, weather, etc. planes have landed with only just enough fuel for one "go around". Scary thought.

Typical management and pen pushers meddling in jobs they know nothing about. And if an under pressure "ranking" captain and plane did run out of fuel guess who gets the blame.

The problem with a "go around" is that it uses a huge amount of fuel so having the option of two or more, to cater say for bad cross wind conditions and possible diversions to a more distant airport, means it is inevitable that one will have to carry excess fuel at cost. The last thing you need is some management/clerk telling you how much fuel you should be taking.
 
I read the cock out voice recorder transcript of an air liner crash causing great loss of life due to running out of fuel while holding for landing. The aircraft had been diverted twice.
The pilots repeatedly asked for priority landing due to critical low fuel.
Air traffic control kept bumping them back till it was too late.
Afterwards It was said the pilots should have asked for emergency landing.
Pilots first language was not English.
 
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