The A2A Simulations Community

Hello everyone,


QUESTION 1:
Was wondering what would happen if you accidentally leave the fuel pump on all the time. By that I mean for 2-3 hours throughout the entire flight.

Specifically what would happen

a. in reality on a real Commanche 250
b. what happens in accu-sim Commanche

I do understand the answers to a and b might be the same because of the accuracy of accu-sim.
Sure I can safely assume it might "fail" or "break" in some way and hence not work but I would like a more concrete answer from real pilots / engineers / experienced simmers if I may.

QUESTION 2:
When switching from tip tanks to main tanks, do you need the fuel pump on during the switching ? or do you just switch over with the tank selector and there is always fuel flow to the engine ? (unless you're on a climb or something).


Extra information
Yes I have read the manual

In this plane, most likely scenario would be vapor lock, and then the obvious wear and tear. Not sure if it's modeled in accu-sim or not.

There should be no noticeable, immediate effects for the fuel pump usage. A clue to that is the takeoff procedure, that tells you to put the pump on for takeoff. Some aircraft, such as the 182T if picking an example from the A2A fleet, specifically want to have your booster off. This has to do with it overpowering the full-rich mixture setting, maybe resulting in noticeable power loss (the manual only quotes a "very minor enrichment" in this case). For example, certain fuel-injected Continental engines can even flood and quit with use of high setting of the booster pump at inappropriate times.

-Esa