FE and Fuel management

[MarkW 1,491]

Is the virtual flight engineer supposed to manage fuel?  I planned a flight using the PFPX profile and loaded the aircraft with 7000 lbs of fuel.  On decent engines 1 and 4 flamed out but looking at the fuel panel I had lots of fuel in the Aux tanks.  I would have thought the VFE would switch over the tanks at the right time but that did not happen and I wonder why as he was in the green for Cruise and "maintaining" the entire time.

[Pilotdude3407 11]

It's just not one of the parameters that the VFE controls or looks at.  I personally wish it would, but nobody has asked my opinion. 

[Olympic260 415]

No,

You must control the fuel by your self

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

I amended my checklist to make sure I configure the fuel system correctly after reaching TOC. I also changed one of the predefined VC views to the fuel gauges specifically, to ensure I have them in my "scan" (cycling through views by hitting 'A' repeatedly).

I would wish, though, that the AFE (who's well trained to follow proper procedures, obviously!) would check fuel quantity before switching to a dry tank.

Basic airmanship, really!   ;-)

Oliver Märtens (Maertens)

[scandinavian13 5,192]

12 hours ago, MarkW said:

Is the virtual flight engineer supposed to manage fuel?

Intro Manual lists all of what the AFE does.

To answer your question, though: no.

[MarkW 1,491]

OK thanks, believe it or not I actually read the Into Doc on day one from beginning to end.  I guess the memory is not what it used to be.

[pinepix62 63]

Also ran the main tanks dry on a flight where I left the FE in charge for the entire flight. Since the FE manages the engines (power, rpm, etc.) I thought that he would look after fuel, is that not part of his real world job?

I would have thought that the FE would also manage the superchargers if he maintains power. Ran out of steam at about FL180. The manual states that you must reduce power before selecting high speed, but this required disabling the FE. I just ignored the manual and switched to high.

 

[cavaricooper 2,615]

As in the RW, final fuel figures/loading are the PIC’s responsibility. The AFE does many things, but fuel management isn’t one of them.  Load the fuel and cargo manually at the start of each flight.

I do this for EACH tank, so you don’t end up with partially filled mains and aux. tanks. Always use mains only, if added fuel is not required.

HTH- C

[Wothan 173]

2 hours ago, lasnubes said:

As in the RW, final fuel figures/loading are the PIC’s responsibility. The AFE does many things, but fuel management isn’t one of them.  Load the fuel and cargo manually at the start of each flight.

I do this for EACH tank, so you don’t end up with partially filled mains and aux. tanks. Always use mains only, if added fuel is not required.

HTH- C

That must really depend on aircraft type, since on most airliners of that period, the fuel pumps and fuelselectors where on the FE station.

Sure it´s the captains responsibility to assure correct amount of fuel has been loaded, but not necessarily him to select the sequence of the tanks to be used.

The FE is also the one with most hands and eyes free to do the fuel calculatons along the route, so I guess on the DC-6 thats also falls onto his responsibility, though I have no problem as a captain in the PMDG DC-6 to take care of this.