Switching tanks on the ground

[Rally]

What are everybody's thoughts on switching tanks? A) Over a airport B) whenever in the air C) on the ground. I personally think switching tanks is a bad idea on the ground, I have a advanced student that thinks otherwise. POH says nothing. Any thoughts?

 

[Tina Fey's Scar]

Whenever.

Switched many times and never even a burp.

 

[User546]

When I was doing my flight training in the Pipers, I was taught as part of the Taxi Checklist to switch tanks. When I asked the instructor about it the first time we did it, he said it's a good idea to switch tanks on the ground to make sure that there won't be problems switching over once inflight. He had a good point , and I still do it to this day when flying Pipers or other aircraft that you have to feed from one tank or the other.

When doing a cross country flight, I usually plan most of my waypoints around/over airports, so that if anything goes awry, I always have a place close by to put down. With that in mind, I typically only switch fuel tanks while over or close to a nearby airport. Therefore if anything does go wrong, I have a suitable landing place to glide to. And if I don't have an airport nearby, I always have a emergency landing spot picked out prior to the switch-over.

I'm just safety concious like that.

 

[Flechas]

When I was doing my flight training in the Pipers, I was taught as part of the Taxi Checklist to switch tanks. When I asked the instructor about it the first time we did it, he said it's a good idea to switch tanks on the ground to make sure that there won't be problems switching over once inflight. He had a good point , and I still do it to this day when flying Pipers or other aircraft that you have to feed from one tank or the other.

When doing a cross country flight, I usually plan most of my waypoints around/over airports, so that if anything goes awry, I always have a place close by to put down. With that in mind, I typically only switch fuel tanks while over or close to a nearby airport. Therefore if anything does go wrong, I have a suitable landing place to glide to. And if I don't have an airport nearby, I always have a emergency landing spot picked out prior to the switch-over.

I'm just safety concious like that.

What User said!

 

[siucavflight]

I am just curious, why do you think that switching tanks on the ground is a bad idea? I agree with the above post, switching on the ground lets you know that you shouldnt have any problems in flight.

 

[dmspilot00]

I personally think switching tanks is a bad idea on the ground

Why ?

 

[bugchaser]

The main reason to not switch on the ground is that if there is a problem with the feed from the new tank, and you switched just before takeoff, there may be just enough fuel in the line to get airborne and then quit. Try turning the selector to off sometimes at idle and see how long it takes to empty the lines before the engine quits. If your gonna switch on the ground, do it early and before the run up.

 

[JAFI]

I agree with Bugchaser, I switch tanks just after the engine start check list and before taxi. It is not in the check list and is my personal practice.


JAFI

 

[labbats]

Just don't switch right before you take off.

Also, I always disagreed with the G in GUMPS. Gas should not be switched when you are entering a traffic pattern. Just go with what you have. Or switch on initial descent from altitude.

 

[Illini Pilot]

i dont have any firm rules i go by, just don't do it at a critical phase of flight. also, i never did this until recently, but i now check that on piper type fuel selectors that it can go L, R and OFF...recently one of our archer's off detent was stuck open, so that when the student went from right to left tanks on downwind, it went all the way to off. quick thinking instructor had him go back to the right tank right away though