Worst plane to fuel!

Fueled a Falcon 20 during a torrential downpour/snowstorm. That was pretty crappy, fuel all over the place, 900 gal overwing IIRC. Also found Caravans and Super King Airs to be a PIA. Nothing was worse than the MD500 though.....that was always a shirt or face full of Jet-A if you did it wrong.
 
///AMG said:
Fueled a Falcon 20 during a torrential downpour/snowstorm. That was pretty crappy, fuel all over the place, 900 gal overwing IIRC. Also found Caravans and Super King Airs to be a PIA. Nothing was worse than the MD500 though.....that was always a shirt or face full of Jet-A if you did it wrong.
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Helos are fine to fuel. Just takes a bit of finesse.

20 series Lear's were a pain in the butt having to go back and forth from wing to wing.
 
MikeD said:
Helos are fine to fuel. Just takes a bit of finesse.

20 series Lear's were a pain in the butt having to go back and forth from wing to wing.
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Yeah that was the ty part....not to mention the girl in the office kept paging me on the radio asking me stupid crap like "hey are you done yet?" and "hey when you get back here can you help me with my paper for class". All that being said, it was a chartered jet transporting a fallen servicemember back to his family from Iraq, so I really was in no position to complain.

The problem I had with the MD500 was the way they made the fuel filler at nearly a 90 deg angle to the tank, so that you had little warning that it was about to overflow. I learned to just ask the pilot an estimate of how much fuel he wanted if they gave me the old "top 'er off" directions
 
MU2. I once made the mistake of having the ladder I was standing on under the tip tank. So, next thing I know, the tip tank is resting on top of the ladder and I can't get the ladder out. I realize I need to put gas in the other tank to get my ladder out but the other tank is so high in the air I had to go find a really big ladder to reach it. OMG. I was like 16 and scared to death....

All worked out fine in the end and thank Gawd nobody was watching.
 
DE727UPS said:
MU2. I once made the mistake of having the ladder I was standing on under the tip tank. So, next thing I know, the tip tank is resting on top of the ladder and I can't get the ladder out. I realize I need to put gas in the other tank to get my ladder out but the other tank is so high in the air I had to go find a really big ladder to reach it. OMG. I was like 16 and scared to death....

All worked out fine in the end and thank Gawd nobody was watching.
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I almost forgot about the MU2, since it's been a couple of years since I last fueled one. But, they're certainly among the worst on my list.
 
cmill said:
Try one of these, with no sissy single point.




CaravanAmphibianLoaded_001.JPG
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There's only one good way that we do it and that's to back the fuel truck up to the leading edge of the wing and stand on the platform. Our truck is the perfect height and it makes the job relatively easy. I don't know of any other good way to do it.
 
beechpilot said:
There's only one good way that we do it and that's to back the fuel truck up to the leading edge of the wing and stand on the platform. Our truck is the perfect height and it makes the job relatively easy. I don't know of any other good way to do it.
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That's how we will fuel the Connies that will come in.
 
beechpilot said:
There's only one good way that we do it and that's to back the fuel truck up to the leading edge of the wing and stand on the platform. Our truck is the perfect height and it makes the job relatively easy. I don't know of any other good way to do it.
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We dont have a fuel truck out our base, so with all the amphibs the line guys actually have to climb on top of the wing. Lucky for them, we dont have a caravan based here.
 
cmill said:
We dont have a fuel truck out our base, so with all the amphibs the line guys actually have to climb on top of the wing. Lucky for them, we dont have a caravan based here.
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Wow, I don't think I'd care for that too much! :eek: Especially if it was a Caravan.
 
747.

It's not particularly hard, but takes straight days. I usually do the nightly flight to Sydney, and it's a 1.5 hour affair. :eek:
 
Jshutt64 said:
747.

It's not particularly hard, but takes straight days. I usually do the nightly flight to Sydney, and it's a 1.5 hour affair. :eek:
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On that note, I'd have to say the AN-124 is a pain. Not only does it take forever, but you have to deal with Russians who speak no English. Luckily numbers are pretty much a universal language, and the single points are on the bottom of the fuselage instead of the wings.
 
Hansa Jet

Non-single point Jetstar

767, overwing.

A 737 with an inop valve switch

ATR-42 with a 4" single point hose in a snowstorm.

12 Caravans in a row with 40 knot winds.
 
I've done the caravan in 40 knot winds. How I didn't die is beyond me. How I didn't throw up from ingesting fuel is a miracle. I didn't taste much for a few days after though.

Now the amphib, that's easy! I could do that all day!
 
DPApilot said:
I've done the caravan in 40 knot winds. How I didn't die is beyond me. How I didn't throw up from ingesting fuel is a miracle. I didn't taste much for a few days after though.

Now the amphib, that's easy! I could do that all day!
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I suspect that I have that coming. The FDX feeder parks the 208s and the ATR at the end of the ramp. Caution jet blast!:D
 
Flightnerd said:
Twin Commanders, we always asked the pilots if they wanted a 5 minute top off or a 30 minute top off.
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Oh, how bout a Turbo Commander with the spring loaded fuel caps (wtf?), especially when one of them has a broken spring. I ask the captain (complete with airline pilot uniform) if he knows how to get it off since I'm having a little trouble. "Oh I dunno, I've never taken it off before".
 
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