AirBus fuel temps

[Itswindyout]

I was on a 330 yesterday and was discussing the canx of a flight from the middle east recently, whe the captain was on the taxi way midafternoon and returned..." we are returning to the stand because the previous crew did not set the switch to keep the fuel temperature low"......I am aware of a max fuel temperatre limitation in general..

Is there a switch to cool the fuel when sitting on stand all day.??????

or was it a bll sh!t solution to another possible problem..

Windy

[Jet II]

Is there a switch to cool the fuel when sitting on stand all day.??????

No ;)

[matkat]

The warmer the fuel the better for the thermal efficiency of the engine.Over this weekend I have been delayed on 2 "sleazy"flights and both times the Capt told diffrent(and more plausible)reason for the delays than the ground personel.The flight from EDI-STN this afternoon the ground staff said it was because of the French Civil Servants strike! and the Capt said it was because of an A/C problem when the A/C was in Luton.

[Shaka Zulu]

matkat it could have been either excuse.....
the afternoon line of flying got delayed due to lateness of the morning wave and also aircraft tech in LTN

[Knold]

Nice touch to blame it on the preceeding crew

[swh]

I could believe high hydraulic or brake temps.

Mid afternoon, A330, middle east, recon brake fans were not turned on.

[Milt]

matkat

How does one get better thermal efficiency from a jet engine with elevated fuel temperature?

Is this another myth which we should refer to the Myth Busters?

Recalled incidents from last century.

USN Neptune about to break long haul record from Perth in Oz to some place in USA took on pre-cooled 130 octane Avgas so that tanks would hold more fuel weight. It took off still venting.

Then a DC4 was filled normally at same place and started venting as it stood on hot ramp/tarmac. Some idiot put some bungs in the vents trying to stop venting. Bungs not removed for start up and take off. Booster pump suction was enough to collapse integral wing tanks which trashed a pair of wings.

[Itswindyout]

I do know that as fuel gets colder you can put more in the tank, so you carry more fuel, and thus more range, and thus "more efficient"...
The fuel is denser and thus more efficient.


Thanks for the input,


Windy

[matkat]

Milt,it was something I was taught on initial training,I supose the theory would be that fuel has to be at a certain temp to combust so reasonable thinking would be that the warmer the better,maybe some thermal Engineer could explain.

[Dr Illitout]

There is a button in the cockpit to manualy transfer fuel from the outer wing tanks to the inner wing tanks. Obviously after a long flight that area of the wings and the fuel in it will be very cold. So the standard practice is to drain that fuel into the inner wings and put fresh, relativly warm fuel in there to prevent any possibility of icing.
Perhaps the crew miss read the message?


Rgds Dr.I

[Itswindyout]

my question related to too hot fuel, not too cold....
Windy....

[Dr Illitout]

O.K. Itswindyout, I'll refer you to JetII's answer!!!!

Rgds D.I.