Originally Posted by
Lux Flyer
Not a pilot, but wouldn't the plane essentially be a glider at that point, thus being able to be safely landed? So knowing my tanks are empty could be useful as opposed to considering some other type of engine malfunction.
I'm not sure, and not a pilot either. But does it matter? If you end up gliding (which I don't think is necessarily a given if the plane loses all fuel mid-flight and there's no indicator prior to fuel being empty), you can pitch appropriately and try to land whether the root cause is no fuel or engine malfunction. I suppose it would get rid of the question of whether you need to dump fuel, but still seems much more important to know when fuel is close to empty as opposed to already empty.