[hharney]

My first choice, like yours, is full tanks for each flight. I was taught to always fill the tanks when you return before you put the bird away. Having owned the current Skymaster for the last 33 years you sort of get to know all the characters of the particular aircraft. I too do not use the gauges as the only source of information. There are other stats that should be considered. First, my favorite TIME. Know your fuel burn and know how long you have been flying and how much time you have left. I also use the feature on the Garmin 530, essentially time again, that allows you to input the gallons and it calculates the fuel burn based on parameters that are user loaded given time flown. The other important stat is VISUAL. I still make a habit of visually looking in the tanks from the service port to make sure nothing funny has happened. This is especially important when parked outside on an unfamiliar ramp. Again when you have the FBO top the tanks you better make sure what tanks they topped and if they really did and if someone hasn't fooled with something. Just because it says 85 gallons on the ticket doesn't guarantee the tanks are full. Many times the FBO tops the inboards (normally the mains on a lot of aircraft) and not the outboards. This may be ok in the long run but if the mains are less than 1/2 I won't talk off. I will make them bring me a ladder and check the service port myself. Also because the mains are 2 separate tanks, interconnected by 3 couplings, if the tanks are filled with a high volume dispensing fuel valve the tanks will not have adequate time to equalize and your mains will not be full.

So in summery TIME is my gauge along with the instrument gauges (after 33 years I know what they read) and VISUAL check. Dipsticks will work in the inboards but you're not going to get a good reading with sticks in the mains.

I always like to use the upper half of the tanks instead of the lower half.