How to use the self-serve fuel pumps at the airport!

I will admit I have encountered almost all of those apart from the ladder part and especially like the comment under it that has #lowwingmafia
 
On that account, I’m one that’s never had to rely on anyone to fuel the airplane for me, lineman included.
 
Awesome find. Thanks for the share. Definitely can relate to each of those items!
 
The card thing at ONZ asks for a "driver number". I just punch in a random number and it seems to be happy...
 
Don’t trust self serve ,if the airport is not attended.
 
He forgot the part were you're forced to fuel at some backwater airport that looks like no one has been around for decades. So you bang on the tank to see if it holds fuel and find out it's almost out. Well, you have no choice so you choose to fuel your plane with who knows what. You skip sumping because you really don't want to know what's in the tanks. As you're thundering down the runway you're saying a small prayer that you hope you have 30 gallons of 100LL and not watery sludge!
 
Ryanb said:
On that account, I’m one that’s never had to rely on anyone to fuel the airplane for me, lineman included.
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When it’s 20 below there is nothing more enjoyable to observe the lineman fuel up from a heated car
 
The instructions completely omitted the SOP where the pump shuts itself off (times out) between fueling the left and right tank, especially if you have to carry the ladder after dragging the fuel hose.
Rinse, lather, repeat. :)
 
frfly172 said:
Don’t trust self serve ,if the airport is not attended.
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Huh? Why?



My big thing with self serve is put things back the way you found them, ie reset the counter to 0, put the cover flap back over the machine, wind your hose up properly etc
 
James331 said:
My big thing with self serve is put things back the way you found them, ie reset the counter to 0, put the cover flap back over the machine, wind your hose up properly etc
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Agreed. And I always close the front door/lid on our hose house thing. It's two quick turns on a stainless knob and the sun isn't shining on that rubber trying to break it down. Seems I'm in the minority on that action.
 
James331 said:
Huh? Why?

Stopped at an unattended field,self serve did not work,was no notam ,liLuckily there was another airport close by. Was on a long cross country.

My big thing with self serve is put things back the way you found them, ie reset the counter to 0, put the cover flap back over the machine, wind your hose up properly etc
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Just today I landed at an airport for fuel and there was a handwritten sign on the pump that said “out of service”. Grrrrrr!
 
James331 said:
Huh? Why?
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Fuel not being sumped regularly, fuel not received/used/turned regularly, filters not being changed, tanks not being inspected or cleaned regularly.

Yeah, a lot of self serves are used regularly and maintained well. The busier the airport the more likely the chances for a well cared for self-serve are. Personally I try not to go to BFE for fuel and when possible I prefer full-service that has a flag attached (Phillips, BP, AvFuel etc) because of the quality control that comes with it. It's not worth saving a couple cents a gallon to skimp on quality of fuel. And that's coming from a twin driver who has 163 gallon tanks to fill.
 
James331 said:
My big thing with self serve is put things back the way you found them, ie reset the counter to 0, put the cover flap back over the machine, wind your hose up properly etc
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At our small airport there is always some jack wad that never winds the hose back up. I’m gonna catch that SOB one of these days!
 
Z06_Mir said:
Fuel not being sumped regularly, fuel not received/used/turned regularly, filters not being changed, tanks not being inspected or cleaned regularly.

Yeah, a lot of self serves are used regularly and maintained well. The busier the airport the more likely the chances for a well cared for self-serve are. Personally I try not to go to BFE for fuel and when possible I prefer full-service that has a flag attached (Phillips, BP, AvFuel etc) because of the quality control that comes with it. It's not worth saving a couple cents a gallon to skimp on quality of fuel. And that's coming from a twin driver who has 163 gallon tanks to fill.
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Full service can have the same problems.
 
My biggest pet peeve: put the location of the SS pump either on your website or on airnav/100LL. I hate playing CIA analyst when check satellite view of the airport looking for the pumps.
 
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