May you pushback without a "fuel slip"?

[DrewBlows]

I think the point is, if the amount indicated by the gauges increased by the same amount the truck put in, they are at least working to some degree. I agree that using the gauges to check the gauges isn't an ideal scenario.

So, perhaps the company is using the fuel gauges to check the accuracy of the fuel slip. In other words, they don't want to pay for fuel that isn't put in the airplane.

 

[tomgoodman]

Thumb on the scales?

So, perhaps the company is using the fuel gauges to check the accuracy of the fuel slip. In other words, they don't want to pay for fuel that isn't put in the airplane.

Very understandable. There have been reported cases of "slightly inflated" fuel slips at some stations. If the crew doesn't catch it, a small amount of non-existent fuel will be assumed to have been burned on each flight serviced by that vendor, adding up to a lot of money over weeks and months.

 

[igneousy2]

Because that's the way we've always done it - is the only reason I can think of for NEEDING a fuel uplift ticket (operationally anyway)

In my experience, when a fuel gauge craps out it's pretty obvious - pegged high or low. The one time I saw that only a procedure such as this may have been able to help it wouldn't have. Garbage in garbage out.

The gauge was reading 1000 pounds lower than what was actually in the tank. Doing the calculations would not have helped because it would have started out 1000 high and ended your calculation 1000 high.

The only way it was finally figured out (it had been written up numerous times for the trim being out of wack - because the airplane had 1000 pounds more weight in one wing then the other) was when the requested fuel +1000 was greater than the total fuel capacity and the overfill check wouldn't allow the tank to fill any further with the gauge reading half full.

The flaw I see in this system with the captain that use it is the thinking that 6.7lbs of Jet fuel = 1 gallon which is not true. The AVERAGE density of Jetfuel is 6.7/1 gal but it is not ALWAYS 6.7/1 gal which is why we measure everything on the airplane in fuel WEIGHT.

Some don't seem to understand that if you order 500 gallons of Jet Fuel on a hot day you are actually getting LESS fuel then if you order 500 gallons of fuel on a cold day.

This is why I never understood the Captains that would order a specific amount of fuel in gallons taking the 6.7lbs/gal rule of thumb instead of having the fueler look at the gauge.

I don't see the harm in doing the check - but I also don't think it's anything to flip-out over if it's not done prior to push (or at all).

 

[GCD]

Atlas ---- Required

When you are working with the massive amount of fuel the 747 carries, varying fuel densities with varying temperatures, and fuel guage accuracy (or lack of), the Flight Engineer is pretty busy doing fuel calculations when fueling and during the entire flight.