So ironic, my dad's (deceased) 182 is owned by a partner and is still sitting in its hangar in my home town. The only difference between me and your friend is I may end up back in that 182 before I retire.

One new experience was not being able to hold the fuel hose nozzle up at shoulder height long enough to top the tanks off. Had to take a couple breaks and get a ladder.

Tom - congrats on the new plane!

I have a C310R, I believe our fuel systems are nearly identical. Any easy way for fuel management, assuming you have the OEM fuel gauge, is to switch to the aux tanks when the needles point to each other on the main tanks (approx 1/2 tanks). Then run on the aux until it is time to switch or approaching destination.

See pic for example

Tom Drew wrote:

I don't agree with this. I actually ran them dry once, (which is not an approved procedure by the wife). Right at about 50 minutes the way I run it per RAM. Jerry Temple says 50 minutes as well.

If the auxs were full at 31.5 gal running them dry in 50 minutes means a fuel flow of 37.8 gph, extremely high for anything except takeoff, certainly not a cruise power setting. Of course these numbers are PER ENGINE. ???

Bill

Dont forget, half of it is going back to the mains via the return. So, in effect, you only used half of that.

Tom, congratulations on your new plane.
Great write up as well.
Can't wait to see it and perhaps get a ride.
I remember the day you flew me from IOW to MSN In your baron. That was before I had bought my Bo.
Most professional non professional pilot of have every flown with, I decided there and then I want to be just like Tom if I ever decide to grow up!

Well done!

Tom,

Congrats on your new plane...

Fly it for awhile and we'll get you back into a Beechcraft

The 340 is a nice plane, fills a particular mission. And for that, it works well. I've enjoyed my time in them, as well as the 414, which is similar, but a tad bigger.

Keep us posted as you learn this plane.

Doug,

Yes, I know only about half of the flow from the auxs is burned, my point is that the fuel flow of almost 38gph is not credible as a cruise flow.

BTW, perhaps you remember selling my 340 (340A-0937) to a guy from Texas in '07? Based at Longmont, CO.

Bill Jeffers

Bill - you may have forgotten how the system works. The aux tanks and engine driven pumps drive a lot more fuel into the engines than what the metering valve/mixture allows. In addition to this, the 340A will have aux tank pumps as well (not on the straight 340). If you have the engines leaned to 16-18.5 gph (55%-65% power per RAM), the excess fuel goes into the mains - that is why you end up filling up the mains and why you need to understand what is going on before using the suggested technique.

Here's the math again - on a properly set 340 with healthy pumps, you will run the aux tanks dry in 45-50 minutes max - I don't see how one can go 1.5-2 hours. If you are leaned to 18.5 gph (65%), you will have burned approximately 15.5 gallons if it takes 50 minutes to run them dry - this does not mean you are burning 37.8 gph - but you are pumping that much fuel out of the aux tanks. The aux tank holds 31.5, so the remaining 16 gallons end up in the main tank. Below is the RAM table for the RAM VI/VII engine. Other RAM series and the stock engine will vary slightly, but the idea is the same.

Since I fly mostly for my business, we keep records for every flight and use the log sheet shown below for the C340 (printed half size on Jepp paper). As a matter of standard practice, I record the fuel on the mains and aux tanks every 10 minutes as soon as I start transferring. Some may feel this is overkill, but I have detected various issues in various 340s by doing this methodically. Examples of issues I have run across by rigorously recording the fuel are things like leaking fuel selector valves (the fuel goes right back into the aux tank instead of the mains), weak fuel pumps indicating further investigation is needed by MX (one side starts taking considerably longer than the other), and inop pumps (in the case of wing locker tanks). Everyone has their own technique, but this standard practice makes you start knowing your airplane intimately and detecting when something is not right before it has a chance to bite you in the behind.

Wrong Doug. I live in Texas. 31.5 gallons/2 = 15.75gallons. an equal amount would be returning to the mains. Burning this in 50 minutes would result in a burn of 19.78 gallons/hr

Alex and Doug,

You're right, the fuel flow indicators are measuring fuel burned, total flow from the tanks is about 2X that......so my statements about flow and aux tank time to empty are wrong.....mea culpa.

But the procedure of using about 15 to 20 gallons from the mains and then switching to auxs and running them dry is still OK.

Doug: are you the same Douglas Jackson who was a broker from Kansas in 2007? Perhaps not....I thought he still flew an E55 and I now see you have a 340.

Bill

sorry I had to go back and edit. No, I am not Doug that brokers, hence why I use Douglas as my log in name on Beechtalk.

Thanks for the great write up Tom - we are working to get a Duke back in the air and will make the transition from our Bonanza36.

Please keep the info coming.

Thank you,
Ken

Sorry Alex. I forgot how thorough you are! LOL. I should have read your post before making mine. You are a wealth of information.

Alex Gutierrez, thank you so much for the operating information you provided to me. I have used "the numbers" in my flying and "boom" it works.

Two mistakes I have made so far:

First running the tanks dry (actually just the right engine surged for a few seconds) and second, forgetting to check the prop synchrophasers were turned off before takeoff/prior to landing on approach. Flow/Checklist completion failure.

Now, there are two things and two things only my wife looks at, the fuel gauges and "Are the synchrophasers off?" Dang it...