There’s definitely been some in the west, just not super recent (dead stick landings)
You don't want to know about a couple of recent close calls of aircraft filled to "known quantity" due to tank quantity indications being inop. They got a lot closer than they should have. I personally don't believe they should be so easily differed and if they are, it should only be for one flight to get to Mx. Many times, it was a result of Mx not understanding the proper procedure for sticking the tanks. The FAA should really re-examine items on MEL lists provided by the manufacturers as there are a couple of other items that greatly increase risk.
I'd like to hear about those. Pretending a pilot took off without knowing how much fuel was onboard and blaming MX when they ran out is pathetic. I agree, if the fuel quantity indication system is inop let's just park the airplane. I remember one of the first things drilled into my head as a student pilot was never trust the fuel gage, so I'd physically check the quantity before every flight and plan accordingly. I don't know what else to say other than blaming MX feels like a cheap shot. Are you so precious that you can't actually verify the quantity of the fuel on the airplane you're going to fly? The option I've often seen used in these situations in the MEL is "top it off", certainly not cost effective but it's always worked.
On big airplanes, the MEL for inop or erroneous gauges is to “stick” the tanks. It is literally a Mx operation. We have had a couple of incidents where Mx didn’t stick the tanks correctly, and that led to issues, including flaming #’s 2 and 3 out on one occasion.
Tell me about when you used to fly Gulfstreams in Russia for oligarchs, what did your MEL say then and what would you have done? Would you write it up and ground the airplane or top it off and send it? If you flew a G-V I know you sent it, the fuel quantity indication on those planes are notoriously fussy and denying it just solidifies your dishonesty. You can take off with yellow dashes but you have to have a known quantity of fuel. As far as I know there are two ways to do that on a Gulfstream, you can empty it, or you can top it off. So I'd imagine you were adept at resetting the FQMC from the cockpit, as long as the EICAS was clear you weren't breaking any rules. What was your strategy? Did you have an MEL?
I don’t fly Gulfstreams any more. To indulge your question though, we didn’t trust the Mx in Russia, so we would’ve never MELed the fuel indications. If we had Mx in Western European countries, we would’ve trusted them more. However, we never had issues with the fuel system. Yes, we had an MEL.
