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Avgas vs Jet A: Wrong Fuel Caused Alaska Forestry Plane Crash
In May, 2020, three firefighters and one pilot took off from the Aniak runway in an Aero Commander 500 Shrike. They crash landed in a pond right off the runway. All four survived. According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, the culprit was the wrong fuel. The report says that a vendor tasked with filling up the plane was unclear which kind of fuel to use for the type of airplane, and filled it up with the wrong kind. The fuel vendor asked the pilot if he wanted… (www.kyuk.org) Plus d'info...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Great points Jonathan Huls! Thank you.
Always sample the fuel. Jet fuel might have been off loaded into 100LL tank at the airport. Someone might have tampered with the plane overnight and taken out Avgas and put water in its place. The fuel caps can leak as well if it rains. Make it a habit before the first flight of the day and after refueling.
I'm not a pilot, but I love learning from you all on these boards.
Agreed that the pilot is the "buck stops here" person, but can we spare a few thoughts about training for fuel vendors?
It seems to me that airports should insist that anyone putting fuel into an airplane should know which types of fuel go into which airplanes, regardless of special nozzles, placards, what have you.
They should also be trained to then double-check against the placards, and triple-check with the pilot, without using "ain't I cool for a ground guy" jargon. In other words, they can assist the overworked, hungry, distractedly busy pilots with a critical task: putting the correct fuel (without neglected water accumulation, thank you) into the plane in the first place.
I also agree that the pilot still has to check to be sure that's what actually happened. But it seems to me the origin of the near-fatal problem was with an under-trained (and mostly likely underpaid) fuel vendor.
Am I way off here?
Agreed that the pilot is the "buck stops here" person, but can we spare a few thoughts about training for fuel vendors?
It seems to me that airports should insist that anyone putting fuel into an airplane should know which types of fuel go into which airplanes, regardless of special nozzles, placards, what have you.
They should also be trained to then double-check against the placards, and triple-check with the pilot, without using "ain't I cool for a ground guy" jargon. In other words, they can assist the overworked, hungry, distractedly busy pilots with a critical task: putting the correct fuel (without neglected water accumulation, thank you) into the plane in the first place.
I also agree that the pilot still has to check to be sure that's what actually happened. But it seems to me the origin of the near-fatal problem was with an under-trained (and mostly likely underpaid) fuel vendor.
Am I way off here?
situational awareness --GUESS NOT
To all Pilots and Fuelers,
Make sure your product is what is dedicated. Double check, triple check. It is all our responsibility. The Fuel supplier, the FBO, the Lineman, the pilot. 90% of pilots could not tell me how to check if Avgas is contaminated by JetA.
Read up on it. It takes a copious amount of JetA to change the color of 100LL. I mean a lot of it. A simple fuel sump would never show unless your tanks had 0 avgas in them. Have your FBO show you. I bet they will even be surprised if they have some knowledge of how to check contaminated Avgas. Most FBO's lack the knowledge of quality control.
Pilots please double check and understand contaminated fueling. Wish you all safe flying.
Make sure your product is what is dedicated. Double check, triple check. It is all our responsibility. The Fuel supplier, the FBO, the Lineman, the pilot. 90% of pilots could not tell me how to check if Avgas is contaminated by JetA.
Read up on it. It takes a copious amount of JetA to change the color of 100LL. I mean a lot of it. A simple fuel sump would never show unless your tanks had 0 avgas in them. Have your FBO show you. I bet they will even be surprised if they have some knowledge of how to check contaminated Avgas. Most FBO's lack the knowledge of quality control.
Pilots please double check and understand contaminated fueling. Wish you all safe flying.
I thought that the Bob Hoover filler ring/wide Jet A nozzle system, born of exactly this problem in his Shrike, was supposed to prevent this. Why were they relying on just a placard?