Ask FLYING: Do I Need To Learn How To Refuel My Airplane?

If you've never refueled an aircraft before, here are nine tips to help you do so safely during your next pit stop.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, November 09, 2022 at 08:59 AM ET

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A refueler at work. [Courtesy: Meg Godlewski]

Key Takeaways:

Knowing how to refuel an aircraft is an important and fundamental skill for pilots, often part of the training syllabus, especially with the prevalence of self-serve fuel stations.
The self-fueling process requires adherence to a specific order of safety steps, including bringing the aircraft to the pump carefully, ensuring the correct fuel type, and properly attaching a grounding cable to dissipate static charge.
Key tips include using a ladder for high-wing aircraft, determining remaining fuel with a pipette to avoid large credit card pre-authorizations, carefully handling the fuel hose and nozzle, and sumping the fuel afterward to check for contamination.

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Question: I have been renting aircraft for years from an FBO that has recently become very busy. I was surprised when the FBO told me that I would have to refuel the airplane I had rented because it had just come back from a flight. They handed me a company credit card so it wasn’t the cost that bothered me—it’s that I have been flying for years but never have refueled an airplane before. Is this something new and something I should know how to do?

Answer: