re: $200 customs ramp fee
Reply to @ptomblin: 8 gallons usable (10 total) in a Warrior is almost double the minimum day VFR reserve even at 75% power and ROP. Personally, I normally land at TEB with about 26 gal usable (28 total), but that's because I'm flying alone and take off from Ottawa with full tanks. When I fly to NYC with my whole family this summer, I'm going to have to keep the tanks a lot lower for W&B, and I can see touching down in TEB with only 10-12 gal usable if it's good VFR. IFR or night VFR is a different story, of course, as is flight over mostly-uninhabited terrain like Northern Quebec -- I like to land with 2 hours in the tanks in those situations.
As you know from your Archer time, another advantage of the Cherokee line is that there's no "both" fuel switch. My rule (which, fortunately, I've never had to invoke) is that if I ever do unexpectedly run one tank dry, I will treat it as an emergency -- something went wrong with my fuel system or my calculations -- and I will use the other tank only to make a precautionary landing at the nearest airport (or on a road or field if there's no airport within 15 minutes). A Cessna's "both" position doesn't give you that kind of warning: when you're dry, you're dry.
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