Saturday rolls around. Winds are a bit strong but we figure we'll fly either way and see how it goes. I preflight the plane...
Sumping the fuel I notice a few little flecks of something in the first sample I take. No big deal. Get rid of that and drain some more. Looks good.... move on.... but notice that about once a second a spot of pavement under the plane turns dark, and then fades back to light concrete grey. My first thought was that it was just some extra fuel clinging to the drain, but it keeps going. I went back and tried jiggling and twisting the drain valve a little bit to see if that would seat it and stop the drip. I finish the rest of the preflight, watching to see if the dripping tapers off. It doesn't.
The plane had about 13 out of 21 usable so it wasn't overflowing fuel from a vent.
We mess around with the valve a bit more, looking under the plane, counting drips, trying to see what's actually leaking and whether it's getting better.
It's possible that a little bit of whatever came out in the first sumping was stuck to the valve seat... but that stuff didn't look large or particularly rigid so I wasn't too convinced of that explanation. It could as easily have been bits of a decaying gasket.
CFI and I discuss it a bit. It's a slow leak, at that rate there is no real chance of draining the tank dry. On the other hand, it could speed up, it could make other situations worse. He said something about how if he was alone he might take it for a spin around the pattern and check it again. He then asks, "What's your call?"
I hate that. I've spent enough time around gasoline powered devices to know that a little bit of fuel in the open air, especially in 97+ degree weather, really isn't a big deal...and my gung-ho side says "fly"...but I also know that a little crack can become a big problem in an hour, the same amount of fuel in a trapped space can go boom, and anyway unexplained fuel leaks + powersports = bad.
"No go."
We squawked the plane, hoping that it would be something simple that could be addressed that night. We even made arrangements to fly first thing Sunday if the plane was back in service. Got a call later that night. It was a gasket in the sump valve and would take until at least Tuesday to replace. That means I won't be flying until Thursday.
So, as the subject says... I blew my chance to solo. For a week or so. By Thursday I'll have gone more than a week without flying so I'll need time to get back to where I was. Good thing I'm not on a schedule.
