Brief Description: Copilot Fuel Line / Low Fuel Sensor.
When I was first interested in flying I asked my instructor what he thought about the safety of the activity. His response was that most accidents are preventable, and he commented that in his experience running out of fuel was one of the most common causes for emergency landings.
While I fully understand the importance of proper prefight planning and monitoring fuel and other resources during flight, I thought that adding a low fuel sensor was easy enough, and provides some nice peace of mind even though I never intend to use it.
I used a sensor unit from Pillar Point Electronics that uses light and refractive properties to determine if there is fuel in contact with the sensor eye. I mounted this in the vertical leg of the fuel line on the copilots side. I used a yellow Dialight 557 series led light in the dash as an indicator. I love these indicator lights as they look really nice and are super bright.
Under normal operation, with fuel in the vertical part of the supply line from the wing tank the light will be off. If I should reach a situation where the fuel line runs dry, I have a 1 gallon header tank that will provide 15 - 20 minutes of fuel to get to at least a road or field where I can make a safe and stress free landing.
