As most of you know, I’m learning to fly a Light Sport
Aircraft at Pearland Regional Airport. My instructor is Andy Foster, owner of Little Eagles Flight School.
After just one lesson, I quickly learned that flying is not just
about soaring through the sky, free as a bird. First you have to take care of
the work on the ground before you can coax that plane into the air.
Each pre-flight check includes a long list of items to
inspect before takeoff, including the fuel tanks. Running out of gas when you’re
1,200 feet off the ground is not a good thing!
The words, “Fill ‘er up!” take on a whole new meaning when dealing
with an airplane. The following steps will help me explain:
1. Get in, buckle up, go through the pre-takeoff checklist, including headsets, and then taxi over from the hangar to the fuel pumps on the opposite side of the airfield.
2. Shut everything down, remove headsets, unbuckle and get out.
3. Andy feeds bookoos of dollars into the fuel pump meter (if you think auto fuel is high, airplane fuel runs $5.99 per gallon).
4. Connect the anti-static line to the plane exhaust pipe. Reel off about fifty feet of hose from the fuel pump to reach the plane (as shown in the photo at right), and set up a ladder to climb up to the left wing. Yes, the fuel tanks are in the wings. 
5. Remove the gas cap, check the level of fuel with a special dip stick, then begin adding the fuel. That's Andy in the photo, filling up the tank in the left wing. Over fueling can be messy—this pump doesn’t automatically shut off when it detects a certain level in the tank. Let the pumper beware! 
6. Replace the gas cap, climb down the ladder, then move to the right wing and repeat step 5. (I gave it a try this time.)
7. Stow the ladder and roll up the hose. Disconnect the anti-static line.
8. Get back in the plane, buckle up, go through the pre-takeoff check list (again), don our headsets and taxi out to the runway.
But it’s well worth all the trouble when those wheels leave
the runway and you soar off the ground into the wild blue yonder!
Only this fueling session was a nighttime event, and Andy
and his wife had a special surprise in store for me. I wasn’t expecting to fly—just
take a few photos to document the fueling procedure for my Cancer Journey blog.
He had texted me earlier in the day that I should bring my booster pillow with
me (that’s the one that height-challenged students need in order to reach the rudder
pedals on the floor).
After filling up the fuel tanks, we taxied out to the runway
instead of back to the hangar, and took off—not into the wild blue yonder, but into
the most gorgeous sunset I’ve ever seen—from 1,200 feet in the air!
Thank you, Andy, for a spectacular show!
