I wonder how many people do this?
If you need avgas, there are reportedly various complications getting it delivered to a remote site.
So a lot of people fly to a nearby airport for fuel. For example a number of strip flyers in Sussex fly to Shoreham for fuel.
I guess the biggest issue is draining it out of the wings into the tank, and needing a pump to pump it back, or the other way round if the tank is mounted elevated.
You would be insane to fit a tank as it is a fixed installation and then comes under a whole
raft of legislation and requirements. Most clubs I have dealt with buy a small mobile bowser which have electric or hand pumps. My club one has a smal diesel generator which runs the pump. 1000L ones are common. AVGAS suppliers will usually come out and bulk up for 500L plus.
Ps CAP748 has CAA guidance on fuel at airfields
I Germany, the fuel trailer from Maul is very popular. They are supposedly of very good quality. There was also a Polish company at the show in Friedrichshafen with what looked like a very solid product.
Have it delivered in 200ltr drums instead for using a electrical pump that is expensive due to be fuel save, a hand pump is lots of work.
I use air! modified the 2 bungs from the fuel drum in the small bung i installed a schrader valve (tire valve) in the larger bung i drilled a hole and welded a 20mm tube to it that goes to the bottom of the drum (minus 10mm) on the other end that sticks out from the bung approx 100mm i fitted a 90deg shut of ball valve and on the other end of the valve u fit a flexibale hote that reaches your fuel tank.
screw in the 2 modified bungs into the fuel drum, connect the tire valve to a air compressor, limit the max air pres.to 2 bar (or more depending were ur tank sits) and of you go
cheap and chearfull and it works cost about 25pounds euro in hardware
Peter wrote:
I guess the biggest issue is draining it out of the wings into the tank,
Why would you want to do this? Do you mean by tankering fuel from another airport full tanks, and “delivering” it to the local area by backpumping from the wings? I’d personally only want to do this if it would be put it back in the same aircraft. Meaning you need an assigned drum/tank per aircraft.
Peter wrote:
and needing a pump to pump it back, or the other way round if the tank is mounted elevated.
Just get a handpump. One litre per turn. If you’re going to build ‘custom’ electric pump, you need to know what you are doing as there is going to be fuel vapor, and electricity together… not a good combination on a bad day.
Peter_Paul wrote:
Have it delivered in 200ltr drums
Drums would be the way to go. It’s a little difficult to do a water check on them (no drain valve). But at least you can store them sealed and open them one by one.
One thing you have to keep in mind when storing fuel locally is that fuel has an expiry date. So you need to make sure you’re using enough of it.
Somebody round here who sadly died of a brain tumour a couple of years ago used to fly a Cherokee Six full of jerry cans about once a month. (Yes, he was well known for sailing awfully close to the wind). Certain others (ahem…) used to buy these jerry cans full up to our airfield and return the empties back to him.
In the same way, I know a pilot (non UK) who flies a PA28 with 10-20 plastic jerrycans (20 litre size, from what I saw) in the back. He fills them up at petrol stations.
But that is good only for petrol, and actually at many UK stations you would draw a lot of attention doing that.
How could you get 100LL into jerrycans like that?
The problem with something TB20-sized is the amount of fuel. A typical fill after a long flight is more than a whole 200 litre drum.
I just think that sort of thing is impractical. You need to have really powerful (other) reasons for doing it.
And a 200 litre drum needs a forklift, so it needs to be delivered on a pallet IF you need to move it afterwards. But even an empty one is heavy.
If you’re looking for an improved jerry can method, a large Turtle Pac can help. I have a 400l TurtlePac and it is extremely handy because it takes no space and weight when it is empty. It’s got a safe pump connected. You can put it in the plane (it will take the shape of the available space), fill it from the filler hose that goes out of the plane or you can put it in a car and fill somewhere else.
Many (most?) German GA airfields will tolerate filling jerry cans. Filling a turtle pack with a filler hose is usually not a problem. Should there be a problem, then I can fill the wing tanks, pump the content into the turtle pack and have them fill the wing tanks again. That is the last resort.
Peter
we move 200ltr drums al lthe time
similar type
we also get the fuel supplied with 200ltr drums on pallets all over europe (different application not for airplanes)
http://www.directindustry.de/prod/sall-srl/product-20817-59389.html
OK; a good point. You can move 200L drums with a “trolley”.
However, that will work only on a smooth surface like a concrete warehouse floor.
Isn’t avgas expensive in drums? One does find it in drums in Greece (LGST especially comes to mind) and it is around €3.50/L.
