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Fuel
Funny. I just tried to order a Shadin unit for my '76 337G to be installed at the annual about to start. They are 4 to 6 weeks out on delivery, so I didn't order.
The dipstick method may work on the plane with aux tanks but not on the ones, like mine, that have the 148 gallon tanks with only two fuel doors (on the high side of the wing.) Because of the dihedral, the fuel drops out of sight pretty quickly and a dipstick is useless, especially when fuel is preciously low. My gauges are pretty useless except when very close to dead empty when you can't get them to move no matter how much slipping and skidding you do to see if they'll register any fuel. I've spent a lot fo money trying to correct them but it's difficult to get them properly calibrated.
I have a fuel burn rule very similar to Allen but with more margin built in (remember I have over 7 hours of fuel at cruise.) I almost always top it off to have a known quantity at some point then use very conservative (on the high side) consumption numbers. Except when I have had it locked in my T-Hangar, I am always suspect of theft or leakage (Shadin no good here either.)
Over 4 years (but not nearly as many hours as Allen) I have developed a fuel burn estimate that usually results in less fuel needed than I had estimated. If I do a series of short flights, down low and several take-offs and landings, I add even more consumption.
None of this is to fault Allen. He's been much more scientific about his bird than I have mine.
The prevous owner of my bird was a partnership of pilots for a major cargo airline and I bought the plane only because one of them had run it dry a few miles from a nice airport, sightseeing down low with his little girl. Not much damage (landed ina soybean field gear-up) and no injuries, thank goodness.
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