CF-NZB Is Improved - Fuel Leak Discovered and Fixed

The Comanche has been greatly improved last Friday.  Over the last several flights a blue oily residue would spill onto the forks of the nose gear on shutting down the engine.  It seemed somewhat erratic and would also be visible on other parts of the engine compartment.

In addition, particularly on short low power flights, there was a disagreement between the flue flow totalizer information and the fuel receipts.  On a flight to Dawson Creek a tip tank ran dry several minutes earlier than expected and the engine roughness gave us a bit of a start.

During a recent oil change the mechanic noticed a puddle of fuel on their nice clean shop floor.  They turned on the electric fuel pump, and there was a stream of fuel shooting out of the fitting that joins the output of the engine driven fuel pump and the electric fuel pump.  The leak was ahead of the fuel totalizer, so the fuel consumption was not noticed by the equipment.

Why none of us thought before to turn on the electric fuel pump in order to look for an obvious fuel leak is an interesting question.

The brass swivel fitting on the left was the offender

The blue dye in fuel is there for a reason.  If blue staining is showing up this is because the fuel is outside the engine, where it is not supposed to be.  It should be fixed as soon as possible.

The fuel burn is habitually logged for each flight.  When I went back and compared the totalizer output to the receipts it was very obvious.

My last flight (to Edmonton and back today) was much more economical!