Quote:
Originally Posted by j ferguson
John McKensie's very wonderful reports on his manufacturing of an FE2b include photos of a "sight gage" on the day-tank.
This is a vertical glass tube, housed in a bronze fitting for protection and installed in a niche on the side of the tank so that the level of its contents might be appraised.
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Hi John. What is a "day-tank"?
From a risk standpoint, the sight glass isn't such a bad deal. The worst risk would be an inflight fire from relatively minor fuel leakage. Accurately knowing your fuel level is extremely valuable information for preventing fuel exhaustion accidents.
My Luscombe had a small window in the fuselage tank with a moving scale attached to a float behind the window. About 40 min after takeoff, I would see the fuel level in the glass and could get a verification of how accurately the tank had been filled. When you got really low on gas, you would see the bottom of the scale and it wouldn't move around too much with rudder or negative g. Only time I had trouble with it was when the cork float filled with gas and sank but you knew before flight that it wasn't working.
Switching back to
Test Flying your bird, I would like to suggest two very good books on the subject.
The first is "Flight Testing Homebuilt Aircraft" by Vaughan Askue ISBN 978-1-56027-628-9. This book would be appropriate to the majority of the test flying programs you builders would be accomplishing. It has a practical down to earth style and nothing worse than text and easy to understand diagrams. It even addresses the questions of who should test fly your aircraft, and how to handle flutter.
If you have some sort of serious/unusual flight test problem, or you just enjoy understanding the theoretical aspects of things, then you should read "Flight Testing of Fixed-Wing Aircraft" by Ralph D. Kimberlin ISBN 1-56347-564-2. This is an actual textbook on the subject and is complete with Greek letters and formulas.
Both authors have your personal safety during the test flight program in mind and a provide a number of excellent suggestions for surviving the experience.
Sid