Refueling to 100% with no rental?

[wmburns]

I went to plan an FSE flight on my airplane BE58 (N55VM) and found someone had re-fueled to 100% and did not rent. Needless to say that I was disappointed that I could not leave with a full load of PAX. Thus costing revenue and paying for fuel that didn't benefit me.

A year ago when I was flying the the KCLT area I had noted the same thing would frequently happen (someone would fill to 100% and not rent). At times noting that every plane had been re-fueled.

I figured it was an attempt to "game" the system even though I didn't understand how/why. At the time I was just a renter. So just rented a different airplane or lived with it. Now I own the aircraft and it feels different (as in mad).

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Does anybody understand WHY someone would do this (IE what's the exploit)?

Again it wouldn't be so frustrating if the person rented and actually flew the airplane.

Thanks for listening.

>>>N55VM log
2015/06/07 16:05:57 minibikerider refuel ($436.57)

[davidspreckeriii]

It is on the FSE forums every few weeks about someone complaining about it. It is in bad taste, one of the few rules they tend to keep repeating as a "nicety". In the end, if the same person keeps doing it, you can actually ban them from renting your plane. There is also always the "defuel" option for the owner, if you are willing to lose out on the money spent to put the fuel in.

[Rick Stratman]

This can be frustrating

Refueling so you can not max PAX and the fact the airplane would disappear from where I left is why I purchased my planes.

I also don't allow general population to rent the planes either, as there have been cases where people would leave the plane in a location with no fuel to purchase and the tank bone dry.

[stevekirks]

This can be frustrating

Refueling so you can not max PAX and the fact the airplane would disappear from where I left is why I purchased my planes.

I also don't allow general population to rent the planes either, as there have been cases where people would leave the plane in a location with no fuel to purchase and the tank bone dry.

I've been wondering about how to handle this with my rentals. Right now, they have a high distance bonus to encourage people to bring them back and possibly, keep the new players from flying them that often. How do you manage rentals today?

[BonanzaDude]

This might be the problem and it has nothing to do with the previous renter. I had read somewhere that one of the flight sim programs fills your plane with fuel if they are parked near the fuel box located on the field. Once you disconnect and the FSE client no longer has control of fuel quantity, the plane gets filled with fuel. I no longer start or stop a flight anywhere near the fuel boxes as they are called in Prepar3D.

John

[cruster]

I also don't allow general population to rent the planes either, as there have been cases where people would leave the plane in a location with no fuel to purchase and the tank bone dry.

I've done this to myself more times than I care to count. Or admit. I think I still have little jerry cans of 100LL and JetA littered all over the western hemisphere. Now I'm afraid to look at my Goods tab. :S

I've been wondering about how to handle this with my rentals. Right now, they have a high distance bonus to encourage people to bring them back and possibly, keep the new players from flying them that often. How do you manage rentals today?

My (small) fleet is not publicly rentable. The issues with troublemakers and their 100% fueling a couple years back, coupled with planes never being at my FBOs when I wanted them led to making them all private. With it being so easy for a complete newbie to earn enough v$ to buy a plane outright, along with the prevalence the last year or two of "Buy Here, Pay Here" leasing/lending outfits, I just don't see them as a viable income stream. Certainly not a hands-off one, anyway.

Side story: Back in 2008/9/10 or thereabouts, I tried to corner the market on C182s in the US. I'd buy them all off the sales page as quick as they popped up. Ah, the wonders of the night-time+weather bonuses; but I digress. I eventually ran out of v-cash to do so, but I had amassed a goodly sized fleet. They were all publicly rentable at market rates, but I don't think I ever saw more than one or two rentals. Eventually I sold them all back to the system at a loss. I had learned nothing from the Hunt Brothers, it seems.

[BonanzaDude]

That is one of the reasons that I like having members be a part of my group if they want to fly my planes. I can set rent to 0 which won't allow any other pilots to fly my planes other than group members.

John

[Rick Stratman]

This can be frustrating

Refueling so you can not max PAX and the fact the airplane would disappear from where I left is why I purchased my planes.

I also don't allow general population to rent the planes either, as there have been cases where people would leave the plane in a location with no fuel to purchase and the tank bone dry.

I've been wondering about how to handle this with my rentals. Right now, they have a high distance bonus to encourage people to bring them back and possibly, keep the new players from flying them that often. How do you manage rentals today?

Steve - I don't do rentals, as I purchased the planes only to make sure they are where I leave them and don't wander off to a far off location.

[wmburns]

Right now, they have a high distance bonus to encourage people to bring them back and possibly, keep the new players from flying them that often.

Note about distance bonus. Consider the following scenario if the distance bonus is set too high.

• Owner travels to a remote airport and leaves available to rent.
• Renter returns to home airport. However, because of the high distance bonus the owner actually PAYS the renter to fly home.

Obviously this doesn't matter if the renter (or owner) takes the plane for a round trip.

I personally think that increasing the rent and distance bonus should be an effective way to control how the airplane is used. However, I understand the renter mentality regarding "one way" trips as I have done it myself.

For the relatively modest rental income I get it (might as well be non existent) allowing rental does seem a marginal activity.

This might be the problem and it has nothing to do with the previous renter. I had read somewhere that one of the flight sim programs fills your plane with fuel if they are parked near the fuel box located on the field. Once you disconnect and the FSE client no longer has control of fuel quantity, the plane gets filled with fuel. I no longer start or stop a flight anywhere near the fuel boxes as they are called in Prepar3D.

I understand how parking near the fuel box can fill the tanks in the sim. However I didn't think the sim could make FSE add fuel (FSE can change the sim settings). Hence the need to keep FSE and the sim in sync. I thought fueling could only be done via the FSE WEB page.

In retrospect I should have taken a deep calming breath and de-fueled. Likely removing 30-35 gallons would have been enough. Loosing 160 v$'s to make 800+ is a sound business decision everyday.

Thanks for the responses so far.