I had a funny thing happen to me at Scottsdale Airport (SDL) self fuel at Ross Aviation. Ross had problems with their self fuel hose where it would kink up when rewound, and the next user could not get the hose out. It would take two linemen to pull the hose out to untangle it. Last 2 times when I could not untangle the hose I called Ross for help and no one ever came out. I taxied to my hangar and requested fuel out of the truck. Ross never showed on either occasion, and I had to go back the next day twice to refuel the plane out of the truck. This is not very good customer service.
Since I timed out when I turned on the hose and could not pull it out, I was charged anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 gallon for fuel I never pumped into my airplane. I called Ross, and they said this is a charge to pressurize the system. That did not sound right to me. If you go to a gas station and pump fuel you are not charged until the fuel starts going into your car. I contacted the GM again with no results. I then contacted the corporate office and was blown off again. The next time I used their self fuel, I noticed when I turned on the pump I was charged before putting any fuel into the airplane.
I wrote an email to the owner of Ross and never received an answer. I have used self fuel over the entire Western US and never was charged for fuel until it was pumped into the airplane. I called a couple of other self fuel operations, and they all said the same thing that you should not be charged until fuel nozzle is turned on and fuel is flowing into the airplane.
I then went to the Aviation Commission meeting and explained my problem. They have put it on the agenda for next meeting for discussion.
In the interim I called ADOT weights and measures and explained my situation. They came out to SDL about a week latter and saw my problems and closed down the Ross Aviation self fuel at SDL. As of this writing it is still closed and red tagged by ADOT.
I emailed Ross and told them I could do this the simple way and asked for a small fuel credit, or the hard way and file a class action suit. The GM could not make a decision and passed it onto their legal department. I received an email a few days later giving me the credit I asked for.
When something like this occurs I wish to give the FBO the benefit of the doubt and would hope they would fix it. After numerous calls and emails, Ross did nothing to rectify the situation until they were closed down by ADOT for illegal operations. So instead of taking care of the problem they are now probably going to have to pay a fine to ADOT and appear before the Commission explaining why they did what they did and why their service is so bad on the field.
I dislike having to go to the effort to rectify the situation, but could not let Ross Aviation get away with what I consider criminal activity and lousy service.
Arthur Rosen decided to add ADS-B to the 62-year-old V-Tail Bonanza he’s been flying the past 20 years, taking advantage of the FAA’s $500 rebate program along the way. Rosen told Flying that although installation of the new Appareo Stratus ESGi equipment went pretty smoothly, certifying the equipment hasn’t gone well at all.
At press time, the Arizona pilot toldFlying he’d already spent just over three flight hours in the Bonanza before the aircraft passed both the airborne and ground certification tests. The flight times in addition to the more than three dozen emails he’s exchanged with the FAA, not to mention additional phone calls to the manufacturer and the helpful folks at AOPA’s Airports Division.
Rosen’s still trying to figure out what happened and hoped his story might save other owners the grief he’s experienced. “I thought the process seemed rather simple when I first read the guidelines at the FAA’s ADS-B rebate site,” he said. They mentioned the need to fly the aircraft post-installation for both a flight and ground test to certify. After installation, the testing began, but the Bonanza failed, again and again.
After receiving repeated agency emails telling Rosen only that he’d failed, Rosen reached out for more detail. That’s when he was told to re-read CFR 91.225 about the airspace required for certification, Class A, B or C. Rosen never realized the specific airspace requirements from his first read of the rebate site. Flying found the regulation rather vague as well. Although the FAA guidelines claim to offer a graphical look at the required airspace, clicking the displayed hyperlink returns an error message telling viewers the map was coded in an unknown file format and nothing more. Rosen of course called the Appareo folks for guidance. After a phone diagnosis, they told him the installation seemed fine.
Once Rosen became aware of the need to fly in some rather busy airspace to certify, he coordinated a flight through the Phoenix Class B. This time, he passed the flight portion, but his Bonanza continued to fail the ground test. That’s when the FAA began emailing rather random-sounding solutions, ideas never mentioned in any of the agency documentation. One suggested he try “taxiing no faster than 15 mph,” but that didn’t seem to change anything.
Then the agency suggested he run the aircraft on the ground for at least two minutes to allow the ADS-B system to “sync up.” He tried that, but the agency said they had no record of his flight from Scottsdale.
“Then last Thursday I flew out and back to the airport again after a slow taxi and waiting a few minutes after I started up.” This time, he saw a note that said he’d passed the ground test but not the flight test. "I told the FAA people I’d already passed the flight test the week before. They told me they’d link up the flight and ground test to my registration number last week, but it never happened.”
Arthur Rosen’s hoping for a friendly email from the FAA today, one that says the coordination’s complete and his ADS-B is certified. Rosen jokingly told Flying on Monday night he’s having trouble remembering just why he installed ADS-B.
