01-10-2007, 09:20 PM
Oh boy. You just asked the tough question. You see, everyone here has their favorite way to calculate fuel. Some with a flight calculator and some
with software and others just shoot from the hip. And each way is different, each pilot is passionate about their method, and my way is the only
correct way and any other way makes you a heathen. :D. I'm just kidding. I'll show you my way and you can use it if you want. I use a flight
calculator. My example is for a Cessna 172. It burns 10 gal/hr and cruises at about 100kts. I know the numbers will be different in MSFS but I'm
using the numbers I use in real world. To keep the math easy, I'm flying a route that is 200nm. I first turn the wheel so the pointer is at 10
(which stands for 100kts) and read the time on the inner most wheel under 20 on the outer most wheel (which stands for 200nm). You'll see 2:00 which
is 2 hrs. Keeping the pointer at 10 ( for 10 gal/hr ) I look at the time I will be flying (which is 2:00 hrs) and read 20 on the outer wheel. This
tells me the I'll burn 20 gals. But wait! I want a reserve. No worries. Instead of reading the number over 2:00, I'll read the number over 3:00
( for my one hr reserve) and I read 30 gals. One more neat feature. If you look at the 3 o'clock position on the outer wheel, you'll see a little
arrow with "US.Gal". Move the wheel until 30 on the middle circle is under that mark. Without moving the wheel, you see another mark at the 10
o'clock position which say "fuel lbs". You'll see it's pointing to a mark right next to the number 35 on the middle circle. That's 36 which stands
for 360 lbs of fuel. They also have "Imp. gal" and liter marks, too. The instructions come with the calculator. I'm trying to do this during my
lunch break from memory so please forgive me if you see any errors. I'll put a tutorial with pictures when I get home that I'll post later. I also
show you how to calculate how much time is remaining in you flight and how you can use it to divide the fuel up into multiple tanks (ie. 4400 lbs
divided into 3 tanks ).
with software and others just shoot from the hip. And each way is different, each pilot is passionate about their method, and my way is the only
correct way and any other way makes you a heathen. :D. I'm just kidding. I'll show you my way and you can use it if you want. I use a flight
calculator. My example is for a Cessna 172. It burns 10 gal/hr and cruises at about 100kts. I know the numbers will be different in MSFS but I'm
using the numbers I use in real world. To keep the math easy, I'm flying a route that is 200nm. I first turn the wheel so the pointer is at 10
(which stands for 100kts) and read the time on the inner most wheel under 20 on the outer most wheel (which stands for 200nm). You'll see 2:00 which
is 2 hrs. Keeping the pointer at 10 ( for 10 gal/hr ) I look at the time I will be flying (which is 2:00 hrs) and read 20 on the outer wheel. This
tells me the I'll burn 20 gals. But wait! I want a reserve. No worries. Instead of reading the number over 2:00, I'll read the number over 3:00
( for my one hr reserve) and I read 30 gals. One more neat feature. If you look at the 3 o'clock position on the outer wheel, you'll see a little
arrow with "US.Gal". Move the wheel until 30 on the middle circle is under that mark. Without moving the wheel, you see another mark at the 10
o'clock position which say "fuel lbs". You'll see it's pointing to a mark right next to the number 35 on the middle circle. That's 36 which stands
for 360 lbs of fuel. They also have "Imp. gal" and liter marks, too. The instructions come with the calculator. I'm trying to do this during my
lunch break from memory so please forgive me if you see any errors. I'll put a tutorial with pictures when I get home that I'll post later. I also
show you how to calculate how much time is remaining in you flight and how you can use it to divide the fuel up into multiple tanks (ie. 4400 lbs
divided into 3 tanks ).
![[-]](http://www.fspassengers.com/forum/images/collapse.png)