Fuel Flow when priming the engines

[CoolP 283]

Regarding engine start.In the checklist it says that the aux fuel pump goes to HI and then you should advance the throttles to read a certain fuel flow (around 60 lbs/hr), then retard the throttles, fuel pump off and then start the engine.This works nicely, but only the front fuel flow meter works so far when advancing the throttles (with engines off and fuel pump to HI). Am I doing something wrong maybe?And, as a tip, when would I use the Fuel Pumps again in flight? High altitudes? High performance takeoff? Setting them on low or hi then?What do the experts say? Edited. I've found the error. The fuel pump switches of the front engine are bound to front on the HI setting and to rear on the LOW. They should both be there for the front engine (I think) and the rear fuel pump switches for the rear engine.Please correct me if I'm wrong. So, currently, when setting the front fuel pump to LOW, it feeds the rear engine. Setting it to HI, it feeds the front engine correctly.

[Guest BeaverDriver]

That doesn't sound right about the fuel pump settings, but it's not impossible. Each pump should be independent and feed the associated engine. For most Cessnas you don't ever have to use the fuel pump in flight at all. The fuel system is gravity fed so as long as you aren't inverted (or gravity suddenly disappears :D ), you'll have fuel flow. If your engine is starting to fail and you believe it's a fuel pressure issue for some reason, then use the pump. In FSX, it means nothing really. Only time you use the pump is for starting the engines IRL.

[CoolP 283]

Thanks for the information on the fuel pump usage.

[4116705510 4]

CoolP, you know how to properly do a takeoff in the Skymaster?

[CoolP 283]

I only have the checklists coming with the plane and the advise to e. g. lead with the rear engine at some stages. But any rw experience of course is highly appreciated. Maybe in another topic since this one referred to the fuel pumps only so far.

[briansommers 74]

I understand a real world procedure is to turn the fuel pumps on when you takeoff and when you land, the reasoning is that if your main fuel system of delivery fails for some odd reason or the other you still have fuel being pumped to the engines and it will be one less thing you have to fiddle with if the crap hits the fan. I'm not RWP but.. this is what I've read.

[CoolP 283]

You are right, Brian, some backup and redundancy may be needed in tight situations. I've just read that e. g. that fuel pump use not only is very plane dependant, but also differentiates between the HI and LOW setting, so that's where my question was aiming at.For example, there are systems which actually take damage and then may lead to a engine failure when HI is used at the wrong time. Of course, I don't expect or demand Carenado to model such things, but it would have been an interesting read.From the manuals (the ones coming with the Carenado plane), you e. g. use the HI setting to prime her, but then turn off the fuel pumps. Even the 'takeoff' section doesn't state to turn them on again.As said, no demand for Carenado to model the fuel system in detail, just asking out of interest. By the way, the wrong fuel pump assignment (fuel pump front handles front and rear engine) is still present after the service pack. Not a biggie though. I pretty much enjoy the plane, thanks to the refinement the guys made on the FDE sector, which was a weak spot at Carenado models in the past.I don't fly numbers 100%, but if it doesn't feel right, I don't have much fun. But I think this one even holds accurate numbers, thanks to Mr. Stolle's work.