EFWD Build

[efwd]

Thank You Gentleman. Steve, that was what I was contemplating and had that very thought that maybe I would forget to open it up. Seems to me almost worth it to put a valve on one fuel line. I suppose most of my kind of backcountry flying might be those grass strip camping sites like in Idaho anyhow so I believe they would be semi Level and I don't believe one would ever really be in there with topped off tanks.

[Shadowrider]

Check valve?

[efwd]

By "Check Valve" I assume your thinking one way valve in line? I was wondering about that. I suppose it is just not that big of an issue as Steve states. However, I do hear about all the venting off of gas, sometimes in flight. Not sure why Kitfox has not added a one way valve of sorts in the fuel lines. I don't worry about fuel loss as much as I worry about fuel stains on the trailing edge of the wing and on the flapperons. I hate the stains.

[airlina]

I have seen this too many times to count.I go to a fly in and as I walk around of course I will gravitate to other Kitfoxes there to check them out. Many times they are parked in the grass and rarely on level surfaces and they are usually taking a leak , right there in public. First time I saw this was years ago at Oshkosh and the kitfox was peeing like a race horse from the tank vent, with the owner nowhere around. Last time was this summer at Sentimental journey in Lock Haven-Kitfox peeing over in the corner.
You are rarely gonna be parked on perfectly level ground or pavement and our self leveling fuel systems will do what they do. To stop this scenario , I added 2 inline fuel s/o valves (one each side ) between the main tanks and header. On my shutdown checklist , one gets closed and a red flag gets clipped to my master switch to say hey dummy open the valve before start. The valves also allow fuel balancing inflight and system isolation for maintenance purposes. This is how I cured BPH on my Series 5 (you older guys know what I'm talking about!) Bruce N199CL

[Shadowrider]

Yeah I can see often being parked on uneven ground. Why not just put a oneway inline check valve?

[Shadowrider]

By "Check Valve" I assume your thinking one way valve in line? I was wondering about that. I suppose it is just not that big of an issue as Steve states..

Yeah that’s what I am thinking. I am sure it’s rare but annoying.

[David47]

I have shutoff valves planned for both lines between the tank and header tank, but my main reason for doing that was maintenance. Hadn't thought of the fuel balance issue so good thinking Bruce ...

[airlina]

Yeah I can see often being parked on uneven ground. Why not just put a oneway inline check valve?

My thoughts on the check valve were that if a failure occurred in the check valve , It would restrict or even totally block flow from the mains . Remember that in a gravity flow system restrictions in the lines are damming (no pun intended-but I'll take it!) I figured a manual valve was a safer option and made sure that after the install I still had the required gravity flow at the engine. Bruce N199CL

[efwd]

For all of us who have not entered phase 1 yet....
I got an email from the EAA that mentioned pre-ordering a flight test manual. Maybe you got it as well. It certainly wasn't announced with exuberance.
I received the two books the other day. I just finished reading the manual. Very interesting and the second book is the Test Card Book. Im looking forward to trying this flight test plan. I was under the impression that one of the caveats to following this plan page by page, you might be able to get an FAA sign off in 25 hours vs 40. Certainly nothing about that mentioned within the pages. Bummer. Honestly though, I bet I use up all 40 hours trying to follow this plan. Unfortunately, I will be flying 15-20 minutes to the geographical location that my DAR will likely give me. Some of these tests require you to refuel with each airspeed you plan to test at. Makes me consider taking the plane out further than my planned airport to base out of for phase 1. I suppose I would then just have to drive my car an hour to get there.

[jonstark]

There are MANY tasks called out in the newflight test manual that are not applicable such as gear retract. It’s a good reference just the same.

Jon